Broken Tune
by Violet Horizon
Summary: AU. That broken child at the broken window, playing that broken tune on the broken piano. The only thing that wasn't broken was that smile that graced his face. Kanda watched near the window in annoyance, but somehow he kept on coming back.
1. Broken

A/N: So I wanted to write a fic bout Kanda and Allen coz we really don't have enough of those~ J/K, they're all poping up like daisies. No, no, it's coz the plot bunnies are rampaging my brain right now and they won't stop till I get this thing updated.

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM.

* * *

><p>The snow was calmed down today, forgiving its mishaps from the blizzard the day before. The sky was a misty grayish white, an ugly hue with a touch of silver flakes falling at a steady pace.<p>

An old orphanage stood in the midst of the snow. Its ten inch thick stone walls were a contrast to the snow's purity as it coated the roof in a blanket of ice. Most of the windows were broken, and for those that weren't they at least had a crack or two screpped against the glass. It could almost be mistaken for a jail not for the small sign on the front that addressed that the structure was clearly an orphanage. Its ramshackle state was a pitiful thing to look at, but this was a poor part of the lonely town, there's not much that could be done.

Walking down the lone street, eighteen year old Kanda wandered along the path with the snow crunching beneath his feet. He wore a long black overcoat that was being played with by the passing wind. His ebony hair was tugged back in a low pony tail, leaving out two long strands that brushed past his ears. Kanda's hands were shoved deep in his pocket since he forgot to bring gloves. He mindlessly kicked at the snow to occupy himself, ignoring the harsh cold that stung his face. His head gestured over his shoulder to make sure that he was alone, but the only thing down this empty boulevard was the old orphanage. Walking past the building, Kanda could hear the joyful laughter of children filling the air followed by the scolding of the caretakers. Kanda stopped himself to listen closely, his head facing one of the broken windows to see a tall man with a toothbrush moustache pulling at a child's arm, yelling at him and a group of children that they have chores to do. All of them started to complain but one particular child ran off to another room, abandoning the man's orders. Kanda couldn't make out his face, but he had snow white hair.

Curious, Kanda glanced over at the next window to see the child climbing up on a dusty stool in front of a ivory piano. He was not much older than ten with large hazy gray eyes that concentrated firmly on the piano with a small smile. The lid made a creaking noise as the boy lifted it up and revealed all of the keys that were either missing, broken or could barely make out a clear tempo. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the boy as he began to play.

The piano was out of tune, but the boy did his best by making it sound harmonious by playing softly. The boy's small back arched slightly as his scrawny shoulders loosened, letting his arms relax as his fingers glidded across the keys with ease. However, his frail posture was just as broken as the piano. His unusual snow white hair was messy from dirt and dust, making it almost gray. He also let his hair fall all over his face, blocking his eyes. His plain clothes were wrinkled and ripped, revealing patches of his pale complexion. However, his procleain skin was ruined by bruishes and scars, but what really struck the teen was the boy's left arm. The entire arm deformed in a rusty red color, as if it was horribly burnt. There were also a few cuts on his cheeks as well as a scar that ran down from his left eye and ended at his jaw bone. Kanda grimaced slightly at the kid, wondering what the hell was with him. The window was nearly broken with shards of glass sticking out at random places. This was a chance for the chilling wind to intrude, but the child didn't seem to notice. Kanda figured that he was an idiot, he was _right next_ to the window, how stupid can you be to do that? Plus he was wearing what looked like a pillow cover ripped at random places. But the kid seemed to be fine since he was trapped in his own little world.

Kanda shook his head, he didn't know what the hell he was doing standing out here in the cold like this. Hell, he was never fond of music so why was he even listening to a stupid kid playing on an old piano? Kanda began to walk away but the sound of the piano was being played out in his head in repetitive rythms. It was so out of tune, so broken, but somehow as the snow was falling gently . . . it was serene.

x~x~x~x~x

"I'm home." Kanda stepped into his house to find his father, Tiedoll drawing on in easel in the living room. He was middle-age but was able to keep his humorous charm that ticked Kanda off slightly but let it pass.

"How was the walk, Kanda?" Tiedoll perked his head up from the easel to see Kanda taking off his coat and placing it on the coat hanger. He rubbed his hands and breathed warm air into his palms before rubbing his shoulders. He really hated Winter. . .

"Fine." Kanda carelessly kicked off his boots into a corner and headed up the stairs to his room. Before he reached the top step, he heard the quiet patting of his father's paint brush brushing across the paper, followed by his calm voice that was laced with concern.

"I can't believe it's been nine years already. . .Kanda, did you-"

Tiedoll was cut off by the rushing of feet and the slamming of a door from upstairs. Tiedoll sighed silently and turned back to his painting, reaching out to add final touches to his artwork. When he was down, he leaned back on the chair and stared out of the window to see the snow falling at a steady pace.

* * *

><p>AN: Um. . . don't really have much to say since this was a pretty short chap, but next one will be longer and more stuff will happen. Also it's the middle of the night when I'm editing this so if you spot a mistake, please let me know. . .


	2. Friends

The white haired boy pressed his fingers down upon the higher notes of the piano. He was about to finish the song till the door was thrown open and slammed against the wall where the wall paper was peeling off. There appeared the man with the toothbrush mustache whom was glaring daggers at the boy.

"You're in here again? You have chores to do!" The man proclaimed bitterly with a hiss.

"I thought I've done all of my chores." Allen exclaimed, brushing off dust from his already ruined clothes and hopping off of the stool.

"You didn't do the laundry." The man remarked and Allen let out a small 'hmph,' crossing his arms over his chest where the collar of his shirt was cut open in a large 'V' shape, revealing more of his skin.

"Shouldn't you be doing your own laundry now?" Allen inquired, sticking out his tongue at the man who was now seething with rage and grabbed the boy's arm, hoisting him up a few feet in the air.

"Do you want more scars?" The man threatened but Allen just stared at him with emotionless gray eyes that were hollow from all the pain that he had already endured. Not to mention the cold that has embraced his body and caused it to go numb.

"No thank you." Allen spoke in a calmer tone but with a tingle of venom at the edge of his voice.

Without letting go of the boy's arm, the man literally dragged Allen out of the room and down a long hallway, treating him like a rag doll. The man reached a door and turned the cobber knob to one of the rooms and shoved Allen into what looked to be the laundry room. A washing machine and dryer were set beside the window that was glazed in ice. A twelve year old girl with hair tied up in pony tails was folding clothes into a small bundle before placing them into a basket. She was then started when the door was slammed shut and she turned to see Allen at the doorway with a pout, muttering under his breath how he so wanted to kick that guy.

"Allen!" The girl dropped the shirt she was holding and ran up to the boy, embracing him but shuddering by the chilling touch. Unlike Allen, the girl was fully clothed in a black dress with streaks of dust smeared across the fabric. "You're so cold, here, there should be a blanket somewhere." The girl hurried back to the basket and tossed away the once folded clothes to grab a blanket. She wrapped the blanket around Allen's shoulders and sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Lenalee." Allen smiled slightly, feeling the warmth of the blanket taking effect.

"Mr. Rouveiller is so cruel to you. . ." Lenalee murmured and made sure that the the blanket was comfortably secured around the boy. "He beats you when you don't listen to him, plus he gave you that nasty scar."

Allen lightly touched the scar on his cheek, remembering when he first arrived at the orphanage five years ago. Rouveiller was blabbering about something that Allen was too young to make out and as punishment, he sliced a knife through the boy's left cheek in order for him to obey his new 'master.' In other words, Allen was to be treated like a helpless animal.

"There's just something about me that ticks him off." Allen frowned and plopped on the creaking wooden floor.

"You're also hurting yourself, Allen." Lenalee remarked, kneeling in front of the boy and staring at him worriedly. "You're always in the piano room where there's a broken window. No wonder you're freezing. . ."

"But I like it there; it's the only thing that I like aside from you and some of the other kids here." Allen softly exclaimed.

"I don't want you to get sick, Allen."

"I'll be fine." Allen assured with a smile, but Lenalee wasn't convinced and she tossed a bundle of clothes into the boy's arms.

"C'mon, lets work before Mr. Rouveiller yells at us."

"Right." Allen nodded but then added with a hopeful chime in his lighthearted voice. "Hey, would you listen to me play after chores?"

Lenalee paused but that innocent smile that Allen was giving her chose her not to resist that angelic face. She sighed in defeat.

"Alright, but a short song."

x~x~x~x~x

Kanda was laying in his bed, arms folded behind his head that was rested against a hard pillow. His gaze was on the ceiling, just a blank ceiling with nothing interesting to look at. But Kanda just gazed up at that ceiling to what might've been a few wasteful hours. He usually never did anything on this particular day. His mind was just as blank as the ceiling and his eyes cast a far off look that was hard to make out. His stomach growled for food, but he ignored it, regardless that he could easily smell his father's cooking from downstairs.

Kanda thought he heard the soft chiming of the doorbell, ringing annoyingly in the young man's ear. But what really annoyed him was the sound that followed . . .a rather loud knocking at his door.

"Kanda, there's some one here to see you."

Kanda closed his eyes, wondering who in the right mind would disturb him. What time was it anyways? Kanda gestured his head at the alarm clock sitting alone on the night stand. It was almost noon. God, this day wasn't even half way over. . . this was the only Sunday that the teen begged to end.

"Just bring him in, but make it quick." Kanda announced in a bored manner.

The door flew open and a teen around Kanda's age jumped in. He had fiery red hair with a bright green headband wrapped around his head, pulling his hair upright. His jade eyes were filled with enthusiasm as he gracefully jumped on Kanda's bed, making him flying about a foot in the air before landing with a thud.

"What the hell, stupid rabbit!" Kanda scrambled off of the bed before said rabbit would try to give the teen a heart attack.

"Haha, changed your mood, Yu!" The teen named Lavi sang and dodged a pillow that was being thrown at him.

"Don't call me that!" Kanda yelled. "What the hell are you doing here anyways?"

"Your dad invited me!" Lavi answered and dodged another pillow so the redhead retreated back to the door way. "Lighten up, Yu, your dad's worried about you and I'm the only friend you got."

"Che." Kanda sat down on the edge of his bed and Lavi joined with him. Kanda stared out of the window and the snow was still falling from the sky.

"You really haven't gotten over that, have you?" Lavi asked quietly, but Kanda didn't say anything as he kept his lost gaze at the window.

Lavi frowned and shook his head, scratching the back of his head as he pondered on something for a while. Despite being called a rabbit most of the time, Lavi was curetnly acting like a puppy, begging to know what's up with one of his friends. He folded his hands on his lap and looked at the window as well, knowinh fully well what was troubiling the teen but was oblivious to know what he was actually thinking.

"We need to help you out so you can get your mind off of it. . ." Lavi suggested and was about to speak again till Kanda stood up and headed towards the door.

"You going some where?" Lavi blinked and Kanda stopped to glare back at the redhead with eyes that made him shudder uneasily.

"I don't want you talking to me about it. Leave my house or I'll kick you out."

"Yu—"

"Didn't you hear me? Leave my house or I'll kick your shitty ass out." Kanda muttered forebodingly.

Lavi became stiff but composed himself as he stood up and went up to Kanda, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll leave, besides, my butt's already sore from a snow fight that I had with my grandpa. He knocked me down on the snow so hard that I had trouble getting up. Anyways, I'll see you at school tomorrow." Lavi said and left the room quietly.

Kanda watched Lavi descend down the stairs, say goodbye to Tiedoll and left. Kanda sighed and closed his eyes. His mind was just as blank as the ceiling right now. . .

x~x~x~x~x

Later that day, Kanda decided to take another walk down the empty boulevard. The snow reached up to a foot and was still descending down in glittering showers of silver and dust. Kanda remembered his gloves this time and had a midnight blue scarf wrapped around his neck. He tugged on the scarf as he fought against the wind that has now become illusions of wolves, holowing as they roamed the sky viciously.

But soon the winds calmed down as Kanda approached the orphanage again. He didn't know how the hell he came across this old place for the second time. The wind probably swept him off his feet and forced him against his will to go here. Kanda was about to take his leave till he heard it again. . .the broken piano humming a broken tune.

Kanda gestured his head and saw the white haired child, sitting at the stool and running his hands elegantly down the rows of keys. A girl was with him, but she was standing away from the window so Kanda could only make out a few features from her like her flowing black hair. However, Kanda's attention was on the boy who was keeping a more graceful, nonchalant smile as he was playing for the girl.

But then the tune was eclipsed by the rumbling noise of a car engine. Kanda stepped aside for a car to make its way through the snow covered street. The car made a sharp turn around the orphanage before halting at the front. A man exited out of the car wearing a white coat, spectacles and a matching beret. He calmly knocked on the door and waited patiently for an answer.

Allen stopped his playing and cautiously tiptoed out of the room with Lenalee when they saw Mr. Rouvelier open the door to see the man.

"Hello, Mr. Rouvelier!" The man waved cheeringly and Rouvelier's eye twitched in disgust but kept himself compose. "My name's Komui Lee, I called earlier to adopt a child."

"Oh, yes, yes, come this way." Rouvelier abruptly and unfortunatly recongized him and led Komui down a hallway and into his office. There was a polished cherry wood desk which was probaly the best feature in the enitre building. Rouvelier sat down on a burgundy leather chair while he gave the quick motion of his hand to offer Komui a seat at a chair. Komui settled down and heard the wooden chair creak faintly underneath him.

"What kind of child did you want again?" Rouvelier asked curiously, leaning back on the chair.

"I'd like an adorable little girl!" Komui exclaimed with sheer excitement that brought a migraine to Rouvelier's head like a hammer.

Allen and Lenalee peeked their heads through the slightly ajar doorway to listen to the conversation. They were very curious to know what's imminent and were aware of the situation. The man's going to adopt one of the children that reside here.

"Oh, and she'll also be sweet, kind, friendly, awesome, and did I mention adorable?" Komui went on nonstop and if Rouvelier looked closely, he could've seen hearts in the creepy man's eyes.

"I understand, well please wait here and I'll see which girls will pique your interest." Rouvelier stood up and Allen and Lenalee scurried out of the way but Rouvelier took hold of Lenalee's arm.

"How about this one?" Rouvelier gently pulled Lenalee into the room with Allen whose eyes widen in fear. Lenalee looked back at her friend desperately but then she was suddenly embraced by the stranger's arms.

"Oh, she's perfect! What's her name?" Komui cried with tears flying out of his eyes like waterfalls.

"Lenalee." Rouvelier answered and walked over to a desk to get out a contract. "So she's the kid you'd like to adopt? You don't want to look at any others?"

"Oh, no one can surpass this angel's cuteness!" Komui exclaimed with confidence as he was squeezing the life out of the girl whose fae was turning pink.

Allen tried to help but was blocked by Rouvelier who—with a creepy smile—handed the contract over to Komui.

"Please read carefully and sign your name." Rouvelier addressed as he handed Komui a pen. Komui had let go of Lenalee who slide away over to Allen, taking his hand that has grown a new numbness. Allen would've thought that Lenalee would be scared since her back was almost broken, but tears were flowing out of the girl's eyes.

"Allen, I have a family now, I have a family. . ." Lenalee choked and hiccupped.

"Lenalee. . ." Allen bit down on his lip, pleading to himself not to cry but tears were at the brink of spilling out. "I—I'm happy for you. This man looks like he'll take care of you well. . ."

"Looks like it." Lenalee gave a hopeful smile, her eyes glittering with newfound tears. "I'm so glad. . ."

Allen nodded, not exactly sue how else to reply as he let the tears freely flow from his eyes. Then Allen threw his arms around Lenalee, holding her tightly with his small arms, not wanting to let go. Lenalee hugged back, rubbing her friend's back in comfort.

"Thank you for playing a song for me, it was beautiful." Lenalee murmured soothingly, her voice sounding like a song itself. "Hopefully you find a home and a good family yourself; I don't want you to be stuck here forever."

Allen buried his head in Lenalee's shoulder, trying to keep his hold around her for just a little while longer. Unfortunatly it ended when Rouvelier ruthlessly grabbed a powerful hold on Allen's arm and pulled him away. Allen reached a desperate hand out to Lenalee as he was dragged out of the room. He tried to pull away but couldn't find the strength.

Lenalee was gently taken by the hand of her new foster father. She looked over at Allen wretchedly, wanting so much to help him as she herself was being taken away. The impact of the strong winds of winter stung her swollen eyes, letting out the tears that were now forming into icicles.

Kanda observed the girl nearby, realizing it was the same girl that was with the boy several minutes ago. Before the girl disappeared into the car, the two made eye contact. Kanda didn't know how to react to the gaze . . . it was a gaze that read trepidation, but it wasn't for her, it was for her friend.

Kanda just stood there in the midst of the snow and in the nearby yet far off distance; he heard the banging of keys clashing together before fading into a melancholy rhythm of a broken tune.

* * *

><p>AN: I have no idea how the whole adoption process in orphanages work ^^; (Maybe I should've researched it but. . ..) Anyways sorry that the ending was rushed, I guess it's suppose to be like that since Allen quickly lost a friend in the blink of an eye, poor Allen, who else wants to kick/punch/kill creepy Hitler dude? -raises hand- I didn't want to put him in this fic coz he's such a meanie (well that's when chap 205 came along but I still hate him.) but he's actually very important in this fic believe it or not, and that's where I keep my lips sealed~ Anyways, thanks to all of those who reviewed last chap, I appreciate it~ ^^


	3. Encounter

After Lenalee left, Allen became colder and refused to do any chores, which caused more scars for him to bear. The scar on his left cheek deepened, almost blinding his eye but he usually kept his eyes closed as he either stayed in his room or in the piano room.

Three days have passed and things started to worsen. . .

Kanda stood outside of the orphanage, this was his sixth trip. As the time passed, he noticed the boy's eyes getting heavier and his scared skin palling till he could almost see the bones. He's barely been eating and was just getting himself sick. Kanda was getting pissed off, having a reminiscent of the past as he looked at this child who was on the verge of dying. Even the distressing song that he was playing on the piano sounded like his funeral march.

Ever once in a while the child cough or was at the limit of passing out. His eyes opened and closed but his fingers kept moving. The keys were turning into stone, unable to make out clear notes anymore but the child kept playing. His body was numb; he couldn't tell if these were his limbs that were moving anymore. They were pretty much acting on their own now, not stopping till the piano collapsed. That wouldn't be long, nevertheless the child continued to play his requiem.

This was the last straw and he didn't know why the hell he would give a damn but he did. Kanda stormed towards the entrance of the orphanage and pounded his fist irately at the door. When the door was opened just ajar, Kanda pushed the door open all the way and didn't care if he crushed the person to death. The teen barged his way in, passing baffled children who scurried out of the way and watched frighteningly against the wall.

Kanda burst into the room and startled Allen who slipped his fingers onto the wrong keys. The boy turned warily to the teen with tired, bloodshot eyes. He would've been more worried if Rouvelier came in, but Allen was still pretty startled with almost jumping out of his skin and all.

"Who are you?" The boy's voice was raspy, having difficulty with speaking as his breathing was hoarse.

Kanda came over to the boy and took a hold of his arm, but wasn't squeezing it in the way Rouveiller does.

"You're coming with me." Kanda glared down at the boy who tensed up in dread.

"Eh?" Allen was all he could say before he was abruptly swept off of the stool and was flung over the teen's shoulder like a dirty towel. "I—I'm being kidnapped!"

"Shut up, I'm saving your ass."

"How is this saving!" Allen exclaimed,gaining some of his voice back as he tried to yell out for help. Unfortunatly his voice wasn't strong enough and came out as scratchy muffles followed by rough coughs.

"Do you rather want to stay here in this filthy place and die pathetically?" Kanda countered. Allen hesitated and was about to say something till Rouvelier showed up with a cold glare as he glanced over at Kanda in outrage.

"Who the hell do you think you are! You can't just barge in here and take one of these brats, I'll call the police!" Rouvelier bellowed, seething with rage.

"Then give me a contract, I'm taking this beansprout home." Kanda muttered, staring blankly at the angry man as he kept a strong hold of Allen.

"Beansprout?" Allen blinked, raising his head up slightly since blood was flowing into his head. He was in a rather uncomfortable position right now.

"He's a very immature child—" Rouvelier mocked but was cut off by Kanda's glare that pierced right through him. If looks could kill, Rouvelier would've been dead in seconds.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Kanda inquired coldly, raising an eyebrow as he cocked his head to the side. Allen was squirming beneath Kanda strong hold and was struggling to get out. The teen was ignoring the whining child and waited for Rouvelier's answer as he smirked bitterly.

"How about we have Allen decide then." Rouvelier suggested.

Kanda stared at the man for a sec before setting Allen back down on the stool. Rouvelier came over and crouched down to his eye level.

"Okay, Allen, who would you like to stay with? The person who has taken care of you for five years and taught you discipline or this complete stranger?"

Allen's glazed eyes that shown signs of exhaustion, looked over to Kanda. He had a deep frown that made him shudder, but Rouvelier on the other hand . . . he was sure as hell not the caring type. Allen gained life back in his eyes and he huffed up a huge breath before spitting a large chunk of saliva at Rouvelier's face. Allen jumped off the stool and hurried over to Kanda, grabbing hold of the teen's sleeve pleadingly like a lost puppy. Kanda smirked at Rouvelier who furiously wiped off the saliva with a handkerchief.

"Oi," Kanda caught Rouvelier's attention, looking back at him with narrowed eyes. "Where the hell's the contract?"

Rouvelier tossed the handkerchief to the floor and stormed out of the room without another word. In about a minute he came back with a sheet of paper and pen, shoving it into the teen's hands.

"Sign it, and leave my sight." Rouvelier warned and he turned to Allen who was standing close to Kanda's side in comfort. He gripped onto the soft wool of the teen's overcoat, not wanting it leave its warmth.

"And you, I'm so_ glad_ that you're leaving. You've been such a little brat over all these godforsaken years. I wouldn't be surprised if your new foster family decides to abandon you in the next few days." Rouvelier gritted his teeth so hard that it looked like they were going to break apart by the force.

"Done." Kanda handed the contract and pen back to the frustrated man. Kanda took Allen's hand and the two walked off before Rouvelier said anything else. Allen's head dipped downward with vestiges of Rouvelier's words running through his mind. What if his new family was going to abandon him? Allen bit down on his lip and squeezed Kanda's hand rather hard.

"Oi, what is it, beansprout?" Kanda now tried to pry his hand off of Allen's but the kid was pretty strong.

"My name's Allen." Allen coughed roughly; he would really go for a glass of water right now. "I never got your name."

"Kanda."

"Nice to meet you." Allen smiled genuinely, feeling warm tears of joy forming as he forgot what he was thinking about.

"Che."

"What do you mean by that?" Allen frowned, that genuine smile now a passing wind. "And why did you call me beansprout?"

"One, you're filthy like you just came out of the ground. Two, you have white hair. And three, you're short."

"I'm only ten . . . well; I'm going to be eleven in a couple of weeks."

"Whatever."

The two got outside and came across one of the worst things Kanda hates. Driving in a car that his father has now forced him to use since he's been taking too many walks in the cold lately. Kanda sighed annoyingly and dug in his pocket to get out the keys. He pulled the keys out and unlocked the doors. Allen hopped into the backseat while Kanda silently slid into the driver's seat.

Allen clipped on the seatbelt and made sure it was fastened securely on him. He turned to Kanda who was now starting the engine as well as turning up the heat. A gust of hot air blew at Allen's face and he smiled wildly.

"So how long is it to your house?" Allen asked curiously after a few moments of silence. The boy watched as the car was driving away from the orphanage. He vaguely saw the blurred faces of some of the children poking their heads from the windows. Allen quietly waved to them even though that he really didn't got to know anyone at the place besides Lenalee. He wondered how she was doing. . .

"It's a thirty minute drive." Kanda exclaimed as he kept his eyes sternly on the snow covered road. "My dad and I live in a much better part of town where everything's more sanitary than that dirty place."

"So there are schools and all that stuff?"

"Yeah, I need to get you enrolled in a school soon. Winter break is coming up so I'll get you into a school when that's over."

The orphanage was gone within the snow that was starting to fall. Allen twisted his body around to face Kanda who had his gloved hands firm on the steering wheel.

"We also need to get myself some new clothes." Allen broke the silence in a cheerful tone but it was then followed by coughs.

"Yeah, I'll do that tomorrow. There's homework that I haven't even started yet." Kanda frowned slightly to himself.

"So you're a slacker?" Allen tilted his questionably.

"No I'm not!" Kanda turned around and accidently swayed the steering wheel around in a full 360 degrees roundabout. The car screeched against the ice and slid of track, descending down a bumpy hill. Kanda took full control of the car but it didn't stop the car from bouncing up and down crazily. Allen was enjoying himself as he felt the urge to unbuckle the seatbelt and reach the roof of the car. Unfortunately that wasn't a good idea and the rickety bumps drove his face to transition to a sour expression and spurt out vomit.

Kanda shoved his foot on the brake and the car came to a halt at the bottom of the hill. The teen turned around to yell at the beansprout but noticed him throwing up all over the leather seat and his already moldy shirt. Kanda searched around the car for some tissues and managed to grab several from under one of the seats. It wasn't the best choice, but it was literally the _only_ choice the teen had. Kanda rushed to the backseat and wiped off all the vomit off of Allen.

"I'm sorry." Allen murmured and felt another round of vomit crawling up his throat. "I—I need to lay down."

"Hold on, the seats are all sticky now." Kanda grimaced at how disgusting the seats were. "I'll let you sit in the passenger seat if you promise not to throw up again."

"Okay, and you need to promise not to lose control of the wheel." Allen muttered feebly, covering his mouth.

"You started it." Kanda argued and picked up Allen. But just as he did, the boy vomited out of his breakfast that has now coated the teen's coat in a nasty substance.

Kanda closed his eyes and tried to contain his anger. He really, _really_ hated driving, but notably cars in general.

* * *

><p>AN: Isn't that a nice first meeting? Allen thinks he's being kidnapped but gets adopted by the coldest guy ever who lost control of a wheel and got himself vomitted. And thus, the fic truly begins here~ but are the rest of the chaps just gonna be as humorous as this chap? -looks at genre- hmmmm. . . depends on my mood~ J/K I have it all planned out. Okay, maybe not everything, but all the major things, yes. Also this was another short chap, but it's all build up to more important stuff like what happened 9 years ago (there's gonna be some flashback chaps with that) and Allen's backstory as well and a bunch of other stuff~ Anyways, thanks for all the reviews from last chap and hopefully you enjoyed this one ^^


	4. Bath

"Are we there yet?" Allen asked sulkily, leaning back in the passenger seat which was pulled back so he could relax comfortably.

"Are you going to be asking me that every minute, beansprout?" Kanda inquired, his nose was twitching occasionally due to the disgusting stench of vomit on his coat that he tossed in the back seat. Now Kanda was just wearing his school uniform that consisted of a navy blue sweater nested over a plain collared shirt. He rather hated the uniform since it wasn't his style, but that's what he gets for getting into a private school. Plus he was a senior so he only had a few more months to wear the ugly blue mess called a sweater.

"It's Allen."

"Che."

Allen frowned slightly and looked down at his shirt—now smeared in nasty stains—and his worn out pants. The heat in the car was helping a bit to keep him warm, but Allen was extremely uncomfortable with what he was wearing. He could complain about this and the fact that his adoptive . . . brother or something . . . kept on calling him beansprout, but he was too tired and just wanted to take a long, nice nap.

Allen looked out of the window and saw the car turning into a nice neighborhood with small bricked houses lined up with enough room to have hilly backyards. Kanda casually drove up into a driveway and Allen took a good look at his new home. It wasn't anything special; it was just like any other brick house with two stories sitting on top of a small, snow covered hill. It gave off a welcoming atmosphere that drove Allen to unbuckle his seatbelt and fly out of the car before Kanda stopped the vehicle.

"Are you an idiot!" Kanda yelled out to the boy who was rushing up the cobblestone steps that led to the front door. Kanda parked the car and stormed over to Allen before he could do anything else stupid . . . like ringing the doorbell repeatedly.

"Oi, my old man isn't here so stop that." Kanda announced as he got out a spare key and unlocked the door. Allen was the first to get inside and surveyed the foyer with enthusiasm, as well as taking notice of the easel that was supported by a wooden stand. The easel was showered in a vivid image of silver and blue snowflakes falling from a gray, misty sky. In the distance there was a sweet little cottage sitting in the midst of the snow with a fireplace that's seen through a window. The image gave a warming, peaceful feeling which made Allen smile a bit. He turned to Kanda who was dumping his boots on the floor next to the stairs carelessly.

"Did you paint this, Kanda?" Allen asked innocently.

"No. My old man did it, he paints for a living."

"That's cool, so what do you like to do?" Allen now asked.

"Mmmm. . ." Kanda paused and said in a quiet almost timid voice. "Gardening.*"

"Oh. . ." Allen trailed with complete enthusiasm as he tilted his head to the side. "What's that?"

"Nothing." Kanda headed for the stairs and Allen followed tow. Kanda stopped and the boy nearly bumped into him but he held onto the banister for support.

"What are you doing, beansprout?"

"Following you."

"I'm going to take a shower."

"Can I join?"

Kanda stared at Allen awkwardly from head to toe. Never mind the car which now reeked of vomit, it was the kid who hasn't bathed in who knows how long and was wearing something similar to an oversized, decaying diaper.

"Okay, how about this," Kanda started with a tired sigh, leaning against the banister. "You give yourself a bath and afterwards I take my shower, deal?"

"Sure!" Allen nodded in approval.

"Alright, c'mon." Kanda led Allen into the bathroom and handed the kid a towel. Kanda turned on the water, checked to see if it was warm enough, and started for the door till Allen gripped onto his sleeve.

"Can you stay?" Allen asked, tugging on the teen's sleeve, staring up at him with those innocent eyes.

"No." Kanda bluntly said but the kid was now proceeding to formulate the puppy dog pout. Kanda gritted his teeth a bit in protest. "Give me a reason why I should stay in here?"

"I don't like to be alone when being in the bath. . ." Allen mumbled, his bangs covered his eyes as he dropped his head and faced the blue tile floor. "It's just something that happened in the past . . . I don't want to talk about it . . . but can you please stay?"

Kanda took a second before deciding to stay and sat down in front of the door, crossing his arms in resignation but he seriously didn't want to hear the kid's complaints. He wasn't in the mood and wanted the kid to hurry up so he could take his shower.

Allen stripped out of his clothes and felt relieved to finally be out of them. He cautiously stepped into the warm water and slid his entire body in, taking a graceful breath. He searched for the soap that was on a ledge and started to rub his small, pale body with it, coating himself in a white foamy substance.

Kanda took note of all the scars, cuts and bruises all over his body and frowned deeply. He turned away to ignore them as he pondered on the homework that he had to do tonight. Nevertheless he took another look at the boy's fragile body and couldn't help but ask in a sharp tone.

"Oi, what's with all those injuries?"

"Hmmm?" Allen rinsed the soap off and took notice of his wounds that were literally carved into him like stone. "Oh, Mr. Rouvelier gave me these . . . to did this to show me discipline. But I really didn't learn anything from him."

Kanda wasn't please with it but didn't show it as he kept a blank expression. He kept his eyes averted and turned to face something more engaging like the floor. He was having a lot on his mind right now. . .

Allen ducked his head in the water and pulled it out in seconds. His wet hair fell over his face like a mop so he frantically flipped his hair back in forth in a way that a dog rinses it's self. In result, he got Kanda sprinkled with some water droplets. However, the teen wasn't paying much attention and flicked one particular drop off of his nose mindlessly.

Allen soon finished cleaning himself and crawled out of the bathtub. He wrapped the towel around himself which covered his body entirely, making it look like he was in a cocoon. Allen came over to Kanda who was just sitting against the door with his head lowered and arms laying limply over his bent legs.

"Kanda." Allen waved a small, soaked hand in front of the teen's face and withdrew when Kanda came back to his senses.

"What?" Kanda perked his head up a bit sleepily.

"You don't look too well." Allen remarked, taking note of Kanda's baggy eyes and pale skin.

"I could say the same for you." Kanda countered. "What kind of idiot just sulks all the day at the piano in front of a broken window?"

Allen's mouth dropped. "You've been spying on me!"

"No. I've been taking walks in last few days and your annoying piano playing has been distracting me."

"Annoying?" Allen blinked, trying to register that in his mind but it just racked him with irritation. "Then why did you even adopt me!"

"I never said that I adopted you."

"But you signed the contract."

"That was the only way I could get you out of that place."

"So I really was kidnapped!"

"No, idiot, it would be a kidnap if I broke into the orphanage in the middle of the night and took you hostage. I didn't and so it's not a kidnap. And even if it was, would you even want to go back there?"

Allen fell silent and wrapped the towel tighter around himself, feeling a draft as he shivered uneasily.

"Can I have some clothes?"

Kanda got up and opened the door. Just as he did, Allen rushed out—almost tripping along the way with the towel trailing behind him—and scurried down the hall and stairs in a white flash. When Allen reached the bottom step, the front door opened and an elderly man stepped in carrying grocery bags.

Kanda ran after the kid but stopped dead when his father entered and nearly dropped the bags. The frozen teen wondered if he was dead as he witnessed his father's shocked reaction to see a wet child wearing nothing but a towel just a few feet from him.

"Kanda Yu Tiedol. . ." Tiedol spoke slowly and considering that he used Kanda's full name, Kanda was definitly in trouble 'cause apparently he never told his father that he was going to be taking a kid home and now said kid was half naked. Smooth, Kanda, smooth.

* * *

><p>AN: I only have one more week of school and the teachers _still_ give me loads of homework when I should just be studying for finals! I wanted to get this chap out of the way before dealing with any school work. Seriously, the last five days of school is going to be hell on earth I swear. . . well, hopefully you enjoyed this chap

Gardening*- Apparently a fanbook says that Kanda likes to garden, I dunno which/what fanbook, my source is wikipeia.I'm probaly not gonna mention this agains coz I can't imagine Kanda gardening plus the fic's set in December so. . .yeah. . .


	5. Alma

"So . . . explain to me this again, Kanda."

Kanda and Tiedoll were sitting in chairs across from one another in the living room. Allen was wearing an oversized white shirt and was wandering around the house while the two were talking. Kanda dragged out a sigh and rubbed his temples.

"I took a kid in, how many times do I have to repeat myself?" Kanda muttered under his breath, avoiding his dad's gaze.

"You wanted another brother, didn't you?" Tiedoll asked and Kanda's shoulder flinched slightly which made the man smile and tears to sparkle in his eyes.

"I see. . ." Tiedoll got up and wiped the tears from of his eyes. "You should've told me beforehand and I would've taken care of the adoption, how did that work out?"

"The caretaker was horrible." Kanda snorted at that _fond_ memory of the toothbrush moustache man. "Apparently he didn't want me to adopt the kid."

"Why not?"

Kanda shrugged indifferently and leaned back on the chair. He faced the fireplace mantle where there were about a dozen pictures lined up in a orderly fashion. One particular picture caught Kanda's eyes in which they narrowed disappointedly. Tiedoll immediately knew which picture he was referring to and shook his head.

"I think it's time to let go of the past, Kanda."

"I guess. . ."

There was a moment of silence till Tiedoll got up from his seat and clapped his hands together, breaking the thick tension in the room.

"It's time to do your homework, Kanda."

Kanda groaned and headed straight to his room without any protest. When Kanda left, Tiedoll came over to the mantle and picked up one of the pictures. There were two boys; one was a nine year old Kanda while the other was just a year older with short, messy brown hair, thick eyebrows and a crosswise mark across his nose. The two boys were standing side by side in the snow. Their bright smiles made the tears in Tiedoll's eyes run down his face but he prevented himself from crying out loud.

Suddenly he felt a small tug on his shirt and he looked down to find Allen with those curious silver eyes.

"Can I have some food?"

"Oh, of course." Tiedoll scooped Allen into his arms and carried him over to the kitchen. He settled Allen at the kitchen table and opened up the cabinet.

"How does macaroni and cheese sound?"

"That's fine." Allen shrugged simply and fiddled on the fabric of the large shirt he was wearing, it covered him up entirely and was rather comfortable. "So. . . are you taking me back to the orphanage? You didn't look too happy when you saw me."

"That's because Kanda barely tells me anything anymore." Tiedoll exclaimed as he took out the box of mac & cheese.

"But he's your son."

"Yes, but he gives the cold shoulder to everyone, his friends . . . his family. . . "

"Then why did he pick me up if he's going to treat me the same as everyone else?" Allen grimaced uncomfortably, lightly touching the scar on his cheek.

Tiedoll filled a pot with hot water and placed it over a stove and waited for it to boil. Allen was waiting rather impatiently for the man's answer whome seemed to be in deep in thought.

"He wanted another brother I presume. . ."

"Another?" Allen raised a curious eyebrow.

"Yes, I had another son named Alma; he was around your age and. . ." Tiedoll took in a slow breath and was holding back tears. "There was an accident that Kanda couldn't ever forgive himself from."

"What happened?" Allen asked.

Tiedoll poured in the macaroni in the pot and steadily started to stir. Again, Allen had to wait about a minute to get a response.

"Kanda and Alma were always kind to each other, always so gentle like little angels. They never argued, well, only when Alma wants a mayonnaise sandwich and Kanda criticized him about how that was always so disgusting." Tiedoll chuckled a bit before continuing and his face grew grim. "But on one December morning, I woke up to find the two arguing over Kanda's plastic sword that Alma lost. The sword was Kanda's favorite toy and when he found it missing, he blamed Alma for stealing it but Alma exclaimed that Kanda probably misplaced it somehow. We looked all over the place till . . . well . . . I wasn't here for this part and unfortunatly saw the aftermath. Alma was searching outside for the toy sword apparently and Kanda. . ."

"Kanda was so angry that he decided to run away with my car. Of course, he didn't know how to drive, but he did it anywyas. Kanda stole my keys and was able to put the ignition on. He set the car in reverse and at a high speed, Kanda accidently hit Alma who was just behind the car. Kanda didn't know how to break and so he was sliding off of the driveway with Alma being crushed under the tires. Since our house is on a hill, the car fell doward at such a rapid speed till it crashed into a tree. The two were sent to the hospital; Kanda had several broken bones and would've been killed if he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. However, Alma died and it took Kanda a while to understand that he lost his brother, that he was the one who ran him over. Kanda was literally torn apart right there and it broke my heart."

"And that changed him then?" Allen concluded and received a slight nod from Tiedoll before he started to burst into tears. Tiedoll grabbed several napkins and blew his nose into all of them at once.

"That was nine years ago . . . and Kanda still hasn't forgiven himself."

Allen fell silent and kept his gaze at the bare, wooden table. Soon Tiedoll gave him a bowl of mac & cheese and took a seat across from him.

"I'm sorry about that." Allen mumbled. "But it doesn't mean Kanda has to be so cold."

"Well. . . I can't really blame him on one part, but on the other hand, yes, it was an accident and Kanda should just let it go. Fortunately he _finally _decided to do something and adopted you."

"He didn't say he adopted me."

"I don't think Kanda wants to admit that he did." Tiedoll smiled a bit gullibly.

"Eh?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "So I'm really adopted?"

"Yes, of course." Tiedoll nodded. "You're part of the family now . . . wait, Kanda never told me your name."

"It's Allen." Allen replied with probably the sweetest smile he could muster in a long time.

Tiedoll got up from his seat and came over to hug Allen in a warm embrace.

"Welcome home, Allen."

x~x~x~x~x

Kanda was working on a science project that was due the next day. He was extremely pissed off about it and just wanted to kill his teacher for giving this stupid assignment. It was going to be winter break in a few weeks for crying out loud!

Kanda frenziedly scribbled repetitive and complicated formulas on his packet of paper when he heard a soft knocking at his door.

"Who is it?" Kanda muttered.

"A 'please come in' would be nice." Allen replied as he entered the room.

"What do you want?" Kanda didn't bother to look up at the boy; instead he just focused on trying to get this annoying packet over with.

"That's not a nice way to address your little brother." Allen exclaimed, he came over to Kanda's desk and peered at the teen's work curiously.

"_Little brother?_" Kanda's eye twitch slightly and slowly flipped to another page in the packet, being crudely welcome by a hell of a lot more equations to solve.

"Yup! I'm part of the family now!" Allen proclaimed enthusiastically.

"Great. . ." Kanda sighed, tapping his chin in concentration as he tried to figure out this one equation.

Allen frowned that he was being ignored and decided to explore Kanda's room. He wandered around the small room that consisted of the usual stuff: desk, bed, closet and nightstand. It was a rather boring looking room.

"I think you need a room makeover." Allen suggested.

"Che." Was Kanda's blunt response.

"Well, I'm done here." Allen headed for the door. "I wonder what Alma's room looks like."

"What!" Kanda spun around and glared darkly at Allen. "Don't you dare go in there, and how the hell do you know about him?"

"Dad told me." Allen simply answered and avoided a pencil being thrown at him. "I heard the whole story and believe me, I can relate to you but your past is not nearly as bad as mine. . ."

"How so?" Kanda inquired.

Allen paused before he rolled up the extremly long sleeve of his shirt to reveal his burnt left arm. "I did this to myself after I accidently set my house on fire which killed my entire family."

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah, yeah, in alot of AU fics Allen's tragic past usually consists of a fire (at least that's what I've been noticing o.o) but it's a bit diffrent as shown above. Now, I appreciate the tons of alerts and faves that I've been getting but I'm feeling pretty skeptic about the reviews, I've noticed that the reviews _litterally decreased _each chapter and so if I don't get a good enough reviews for this chap, updates will be slower and the chapters will be pretty short as well, I left this chap with a cliffhanger to see if this at least brought some attention since I just revealed Kanda's past and the next chap I'll be revealing Allen's (originally I was gonna reveal Allen's past this chap. . . ). I want to continue this fic along with my other fic "If My Love is Blind" which is also not doing too well, but if I'm not given any good feedback or enthusiasm that would motivate me to continue, then I'll just stop writing the fics. I'd like to give thanks to those who did fav/alert this fic along with the few who did review.


	6. Flames

Allen set himself down on Kanda's bed, sitting cross-legged as he held onto a random pillow. He took in a few slow breaths and felt his left arm ache at the memories that he was going to bring back. He looked over at Kanda who was listening and so he might as well get started.

"It was five years ago. . ." Allen began, he felt his entire body quake but he continued despite the protests from his mind and heart. "We were having a family reunion at my house . . . everyone was there, my aunts, uncles, cousins, we were all having fun. We had a piano that my uncle Neah was playing on, while everyone was watching him play; I went into the kitchen to find the stove left on. I turned it off . . . but that's what I presumed. I went back to the living room to listen to uncle's playing, but then we all went outside to eat. I stayed inside since I wanted to play on the piano as well. I sat on the bench and began playing for a while, but then I started to smell smoke from the other room."

"I ignored it at first, but when the smoke went into the living room and stung my eyes, I became frightened. I saw flames bursting out from the kitchen and I completely froze. The fire was spreading fast and all I could do was scream for help. I heard everyone's footsteps running around but couldn't tell where they were going. I kept screaming for help till the smoke got caught into my throat and I was struggling to breathe. I ran upstairs before the fire got hold of the entire first floor. I ran into the bathroom and heard everyone shouting my name, wondering where I was. Everyone was looking for me, but I couldn't speak due to the lack of air. I turned on the water and tossed a mouthful of it in my mouth. It didn't help much and I didn't know what to do. I stayed locked in the bathroom, hearing the frightful screams of my family as one by one, their voices disappeared."

"Then I heard tapping at the door and I opened it to see my dad holding a blanket. He wrapped the blanket around me protectivly and carried me out of the room and down the hall that was now in flames. I couldn't do anything, I couldn't say anything, I just watched as the entire house was falling all around us. We got to a window and around it were gutters that were too slim for dad to climb down from. Dad got me onto the gutter and I looked down to see how far of a landing there was. I turned back to the window, but just saw the fire just eating away the room I was in. I couldn't see dad anymore and I couldn't hear the cries of my family calling my name anymore. The shock caused me to loose my grip on the gutter and I fell into some bushes."

"When I woke up, I found myself in the hospital, I broke my left arm from the fall and my hair had turned white. Everything was a blur to me for a while, but then realized that I was the one who caused the fire. . .I was the one who caused my family to go inside and search for me. . .I killed them all. Realizing this, I ran out of the hospital and tracked down where my house was. It took a while but when I got there, I practically saw nothing but some of the remaining flames among the ruins of my torn down house. I wandered around helplessly and called out each and every one of my family's names but I didn't get a response."

"I laid down in the rubble and kept on saying each of my family member's names, wishing for them to be here. I had my broken arm stretched out and realized it was within some flames that were eating away the wood. It was painful, but I just kept my arm there and didn't move. I watched as the fire cover up my arm completely and started to spread up to my shoulder. It hurt so much and I wanted to scream, but I just whispered each of my family member's names till everything went black."

"I was back at the hospital and my arm is what you see now. I was scolded by a nurse but I was barely paying any attention. I went back to sleep and the next thing I knew, I was at the orphanage. The place matched my mood perfectly, it made me feel sick that I would be staying here for who knows how long. The caretaker, Rouvelier really hated me since I rarely listened to him, and he usually gave me scars as warning signs. He wasn't the only one who bossed me around, I was called a freak by most of the kids there, but there were only a few that were nice. I stayed at the orphanage for five years and I wondered if I was dead once I stepped foot in that place."

Allen tightened his grip around the pillow that was now tear stained. He looked up at a quiet Kanda with tears blocking his vision. Allen lightly hiccuped as newfound tears poured down his cheeks. Allen steadily climb off of the bed and came over to Kanda in petite steps. He could only manage to hug the teen's waist and hide his face within Kanda's shirt as he silently sobbed. Kanda didn't flinch by the touch nor argue to the kid; instead he bent over and hugged the broken child.

x~x~x~x~x

The next morning, Kanda wasn't thrilled about the loud knocking that was beating against the front door. Kanda opened it and immediately Lavi burst into the house with a huge leap in the air.

"It's a snow day! No school!" Lavi announced and proceeded to hug Kanda but the more mature teen step aside and Lavi tripped on a rug, colliding his face with the wall.

Kanda glanced outside and saw two feet of snow on his front porch. He was relieved to know that there was no school, but was annoyed that Lavi was still in his house. Before Kanda could kick the teen out, a little voice spoke up.

"What's going on?" Allen rubbed his sleeping eyes as he tiptoed down the stairs cautiously.

"Hmmm?" Lavi looked at the child and then back at Kanda who was averting his gaze. "Hey, Yu, I didn't know you have a son, who did you sleep with?" Lavi avoided a punch in his face and retreated to the door.

"He's not my son, stupid rabbit." Kanda pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "He's my. . .adopted brother."

Lavi gasped dramatically and placed his hands to the side on his face for animated effect. "Really? What's his name?"

"Beansprout—"

"It's Allen." Allen climbed down the rest of the stairs and came over to Lavi. "Are you Kanda's friend?"

"Yes, my name's Lavi, nice to meet you." Lavi shook Allen's hand and gave him a humble smile. "So you're Yu's little bro huh?"

"Yu?" Allen tilted his head and gestured to Kanda questionably.

"It's Kanda's middle name." Lavi exclaimed. "He hates it, but I call him that 'cause it's fun."

"I think you should leave." Kanda growled.

"Aww, but I just got here!" Lavi whined. "Plus the snow's coming down hard now so I might as well stay here before it gets worst."

"No."

"You're so cold, Yu."

"Stop calling me that!"

Allen watched the argument quietly, then his stomach started to rumble which was so loud that the teens stared at Allen awkwardly.

"I'm hungry." Allen tugged on Kanda's shirt and looked at him with a pained expression, but Kanda wasn't fazed by the attempt of the puppy dog pout. Nonetheless Kanda went into the kitchen to see what they had to eat. Lavi followed tow and sat at the kitchen table with Allen.

"Can you cook me something as well, Yu?" Lavi dodged a rotten banana thrown at him. That would be a no.

Kanda made some pancakes and Allen shared some of his to Lavi who gratefully ate them. Kanda sat at the table as well and glared at Lavi.

"Why are you still here?" Kanda asked.

"We don't have pancakes at my place." Lavi exclaimed with a mouthful of food. He gulped it down and glanced over his shoulder to take another glimpse of the snow hurrying down, making a smooth wall of ice and snow. "It's really coming down hard. Hey, maybe we can go outside and have a snowball fight!"

"No."

"Can we, Kanda? Please?" Now Allen was intrested as he turned to Kanda and gave another puppy dog pout.

"Alright, rabbit-" Kanda pointed to Lavi. "do whatever the hell you want in the snow. And you-" Kanda pointed to Allen. "are being stubborn, you're just getting over a cold and if you go outside in just a shirt, you'll get yourself sick _again_ and I am not in the mood to deal with that shit again. When the snow clears, I'll have to go shopping to get you clothes and right now you have to stay inside."

"Oh, can I help pick out clothes!" Lavi suggested while waving his hand in the air.

"Fine, whatever." Kanda rolled his eyes. He picked up Allen's now empty plate and went to wash it off before putting it in the sink.

Lavi smiled and leaned over to whisper in Allen's ear so that Kanda wasn't listening.

"Kanda sounds pretty nice towards you. . .even if he doesn't exactly show it, but that's Yu so get used to that weird personality of his."

Allen smiled softly as he looked at Kanda admirably. Kanda caught his gaze and glared at him.

"What are you staring at, Beansprout?"

"It's Allen." Allen's smile dropped.

"Che."

Allen turned back to Lavi and was now the one to whisper. "I think I can handle it."

* * *

><p>AN: Hmmm. . .I actually don't have much to say about this chap even though I just explained Allen's past (Ooh, a fire, what a shocker. . .but just so you know, not everything was revealed so keep that in mind.) well, I feel bad about torturing him like that but I do tend to torture my fav charecters alot. . . besides that, I really dunno what else to say. Hope you enjoyed and stay tune for next chap which would be about Kanda and Lavi shopping for things for Allen during their winter break. Oh and one more thing, after Allen told Kanda about his past, I didn't want the two to really say anything, especially Kanda coz I think it would ruin the moment, I mean, I really couldn't think of what Kanda could say upon hearing about Allen's past and whatever it would've been, it would just turn out as a cliche so I'm like, heck, Kanda, just hug the beansprout coz he deserves it.


	7. Gloves

"Eh? Why can't I go shopping with you two?" Allen asked, tugging on Kanda's shirt, preventing him from leaving.

"'Cause you can't go to the mall wearing that." Kanda gestured to the oversized shirt that Allen was still wearing. Allen looked down at the long sleeves that reached down to the floor, the rim of the shirt just below his knees and the collar that was pulled up to his chin.

"We'll be back with new clothes for you in a few hours so deal with that for a little while longer." Kanda proclaimed, throwing on his wool coat and weaving a scarf around his neck.

Lavi was standing by the door patiently with his hands folded behind his head. "No worries, Allen, your dad's gonna be taking care of you while we're gone."

"Hmmm?" Tiedoll perked his head up from the easel that he was working on. "Oh, yes, I'll show you some of my paintings and after that I can give you some art lessons."

"Really?" Allen scurried over to Tiedoll, now engrossed in the activities that they were going to do.

"We're leaving." Kanda announced, opening the door and letting in some of the cold air that nearly startled Lavi.

"Damn, it's _freezing_." Lavi tightly wrapped his scarf around him and rushed out of the door and to the car as fast as he could. Allen waved goodbye but Kanda barely noticed as he closed the door behind him.

x~x~x~x~x

"And that's how you make a beautiful portrait of a landscape from memory." Tiedoll exclaimed as he finished sketching a picture rather promptly as he listed the basics of the lesson. Allen was listening carefully, fascinated by the man's work as he sat on a stool next to him.

"Now, I think that concludes our lesson for today, do you have any questions, Allen?" Tiedoll asked.

"None right now, but do you know when Kanda and Lavi are gonna be back?" Allen stared out of the window, anxiously waiting for the two to return.

"They've been gone for about three hours, they should be back soon." Tiedoll stood up from the stool and headed upstairs. "I'm going to take a nap, Allen you can hang out in Kanda's room or watch some T.V."

"Okay!" Allen beamed and was already dashing into Kanda's room to wait.

And wait. . .

And wait. . .

_And wait. . . _

Allen frowned as he was now sitting impatiently on top of Kanda's bed. He rocked his head from side to side and wiggled his toes to keep himself occupied but it wasn't enough. Then something caught Allen's eyes, a pair of gloves were sitting on a nightstand. Allen gasped and ran over to claim the gloves.

"Kanda forgot his gloves! I should bring them to him, but . . . dad's sleeping and I shouldn't wake him . . . besides, Kanda's going to be back soon. . . but then again. . ." Allen pondered on whether or not he should go find Kanda and give him his gloves for a while. . . but then he finally he decided to go. After all, Allen was dying of boredom.

Allen got downstairs and came to a closet in which he found a pair of large boots that practically filled his entire leg, a scarf and a knitted hat. He would've put a coat on but it would pretty much eat him whole.

Placing the gloves in his pockets, Allen set off to look for Kanda and Lavi at the mall, even though the thought of getting into serious trouble completely eluded him.

Allen rushed out of the house to be welcome with snow gently falling down on him. He caught one snowflake and decided to race down the hill that the house was on while catching each snow. His boots were sinking in the snow so Allen had to move fast before he turns into a snowman. But when Allen reached the slope of the hill, he tripped and started rolling down the hill rapidly before gratefully landing on the soft snow that blanketed the sidewalk. However, it didn't change the fact that Allen was officially a snow man. The boy brushed off all the snow on him and continued his journey to the mall, hoping not to get lost.

_Wait a minute. . . _Allen stopped in his tracks as his boots were steadily sinking back into the snow as if it were quick sand. _Where is the mall? _

Now Allen was lost. . .

~x~x~x~x~x

"Alright, I think this is enough!" Lavi whistled as he held up all the massive bags in his hands proudly like trophies. "Clothes, shampoo and soap products, toothbrush and toothpaste, toys, video games, books, cell phone—"

"Beansprout doesn't need a cell phone." Kanda had one single bag that contained a single item.

"Yes he does, I've seen tons of kids with cell phones nowadays. Plus what if Allen got lost somewhere and needs to call you?"

"How the hell would Beansprout get lost when dad is watching him right now?"

x~x~x~x~x

Allen was able to get out of the neighborhood, which was one good news; another good news was that all the snow was mostly cleared out so Allen can walk around freely. The bad news was that he had to cross the road.

There were barely any cars on the road so Allen decided to run as fast as his legs could carry him across it. When he reached the other side he bent over and took in deep breaths, satisfied that he was able to do it.

When Allen collected himself, he headed to a direction which he believed was where the mall could be at. He hummed a little tune as he kicked a bunch of snow in the air. Allen walked casually down the sidewalk and stuck his hands in his pockets to feel the leathery fabric of the gloves. Hopefully he could give these to Kanda before he freezes to death.

Suddenly Allen stopped when he was now faced with an intersection. Cars were driving furiously all over the place which made Allen gulp nervously. Allen waited for the stop light to turn red before cautiously walking through the intersection to get to the other side. Once he reached another sidewalk, he spotted the shopping center. Allen beamed brightly and ran towards the massive building that indicated that it was the mall.

Allen was oblivious to the people that were staring at him awkwardly, wondering why there was a kid wearing an oversized shirt, oversized boots and wandering around the shopping center with no supervision.

One particular person spotted Allen with a suspicious gaze and followed him into the mall.

When Allen entered the mall, he was overwhelmed with all the amazing looking stores to go into. He wondered where Kanda and Lavi could be so he began browsing through all of the stores. The mall was very crowded since it was close to the holidays so the crowd was pretty much a mob as they raced against time to buy what they wanted. Allen got shoved a few times and almost trampled over the oversized boots. He clung to the gloves desperately like they were his life line and he was soon able to squeeze himself out of the sea of crazy shoppers.

But as soon as Allen retreated to a safe area, a hand grabbed his arm ruthlessly, keeping a tight hold on him. Allen frighteningly looked up to see a police officer with wavy red hair and eyes glaring down at him.

"So what's a little brat like you doing all by himself? A stray perhaps?"

"N—no." Allen frantically shook his head, his face paling. "I'm looking for my brother, Kanda. He forgot his gloves and I'm giving them back to him. I'm not doing anything bad, I swear I'm not."

"Eh?" The officer peered down at Allen suspiciously and tugged on his sleeve. "Then what's this filthy old shirt you wearing?"

Allen was shaking in his boots, literally. "Well, you see, I'm adopted and my brother went to the mall with his friend to buy me some new clothes, I'm just wearing these for now."

The officer raised an eyebrow and stared at the boy for several seconds. "You're an idiot."

"Um. . ." Allen was too scared to know how to respond so he looked over the crowd of people desperately to find Kanda and Lavi. Luckily Allen spotted Lavi's fiery red hair poking out from the crowd.

"Kanda! Lavi!" Allen was able to break free from the officer's grip and ran towards the two.

"Hey, wait!" The officer chased after Allen but he had some pretty fast legs. Allen grabbed hold of Kanda's shirt just as the officer grabbed Allen's arm again. Kanda spun around and his jaw literally dropped when he saw that little Allen whom walked a few miles in the cold, wearing nothing but a shirt, boots and hat was now grabbing onto him as he was being grabbed by a police officer in a crowded mall.

"What the hell . . .?" Was all Kanda could muster before Lavi piped in with that signature grin of his.

"Oh hey, Officer Cross! It looks like you met Kanda's little bro, Allen. He's new around here so. . ." Lavi bent over to whisper to Allen. "Why are you here, Allen?"

"Kanda forgot his gloves!" Allen rummaged through his pockets before retrieving the gloves triumphantly. He handed them to a twitching Kanda who was just seconds away from exploding. "Here you go, Kanda!"

"So this is your kid?" Cross effortlessly hoisted Allen up by the arm.

"Unfortunately. . ." Kanda sighed; he closed his eyes and pinched his nose. Allen was in so much trouble that Kanda didn't even know where to start.

"Luckily we got clothes for Allen to try on, let's get you to the bathroom!" Lavi broke the tense atmosphere and hurriedly took Allen to the bathroom to change.

Kanda sat on a bench and stared down at his leather gloves. Cross came up to him and decided to sit down.

"I'm surprised someone like you adopted a stupid kid like that." Cross exclaimed, he wanted to smoke but he wasn't allowed to do so in the mall so he fidgeted with the cigarette box in his pants pocket.

Kanda didn't say anything so Cross continued on talking as he blew out some air, pretending that it was smoke.

"Is the kid from that orphange run by Malcolm C. Rouvelier?"

Kanda gave a slight nod which indicated a stern gaze from the latter.

"Something strange happened over there."

"What do you mean?"

"Well. . ." Cross rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "All of the children are missing, same with Rouvelier."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm sorry about the late update, things have been pretty crazy around here latly and it's been throwing me off alot, but things are starting to look better so hopefully this chap was enjoyable. Well, this was more like a filler chap, well, except for the last part which is important. . . anyways, next chap is a bit of a timeskip to Christmas and that should be a better chap than this one. Oh and did anyone like Cross showing up in this chap? He's fairly important as well in this fic (well not that important but he does play a role later on.)


	8. Piano

The sun finally showed itself after days of the gray, dreary sky and endless snow. The sun perched itself on a cloud and shinned a heavenly, ivory light upon the small bricked house sitting on the hill. The bricks sparked a rich, creamy glow as the windows glistened with the melting icicles hanging down from the sills.

Allen squinted his eyes when drops of sunlight trickled onto his face. He rubbed his eyes feebly and peered out of the window to see that morning had arrived. He was surprised to see the sun shining brightly, as if to say 'it's a warm day outside, so come out and play.' Allen wanted to go out and play in the melting snow, but he rather stay in his comfortable bed. He kept himself caved in by the blankets and sheets, considering on going back to sleep but he felt a fuzzy, exciting feeling rumbling up in his stomach. He took a quick glance at his alarm clock: it was ten after seven.

Allen shut his eyes momentarily, enjoying the bliss of silence and comfort till he heard Kanda yelling from downstairs. Allen blinked opened his eyes, wondering what irked Kanda this time, especially so early in the morning. Allen climbed out of bed, rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes and yawning.

Allen tiptoed down the stairs and the yelling grew much louder. Allen stopped midway to listen closely.

"Damn, this is so freaking heavy!" Kanda exclaimed, heaving something up that was indeed, extremely heavy and moving it.

"We almost got it, Kanda!" Tiedoll assured, confidence lacing his voice as well as hints of restlessness.

"That Beansprout is going to be in a lot of trouble after this." Kanda muttered and Allen gulped nervously. Did he do something bad? Well he did return Kanda's gloves that one time a few weeks ago, and the punishment that he got was a five minute lecture from both Kanda and Tiedoll. Thank goodness he didn't get grounded or anything. . .

"It's Christmas, Kanda, raise your spirit up a bit." Tiedoll encouraged.

"What spirit?"

Allen beamed like crazy and jumped about on the stair that he was standing on. It was Christmas! And it was also his birthday! This means: presents! Lots and lots of awesome presents! Allen bit down on his thumb to prevent himself from squealing and reveal that he was there eavesdropping.

Allen then heard a loud thud and the simultaneous sighs of his new dad and Kanda. They had settled something massive in the living room and Allen was eager to check it out. Allen descended further down the stairs till he heard Tiedoll's voice piping up.

"I believe that settles it, the piano looks perfect right next to the Christmas tree."

"It takes up most of the living room." Kanda remarked.

"Well there was nowhere else to put it. Actually we could've put it in the basement but there was no way we would be carrying it down all those stairs."

"Why couldn't we have people carrying this again?"

"'Cause it's the holiday and we shouldn't be be rude."

Allen's smile broadened so wide it looked like his jaw was going to break off. They bought him a piano! Forget about hiding like a ninja, Allen wanted to see the piano! And so the excited kid raced down the stairs and entered the living room. To his great pleasure, there was the piano. It was a grand piano to be exact, polished elegantly in ebony. The piano was in the center of the room, facing the Christmas tree which was showered with all kinds of beautiful lighting and décor.

Allen stared admirably till he noticed that Kanda was scowling at him while rubbing his shoulder which was aching from carrying the massive instrument.

"You owe us big time, Beansprout." Kanda muttered.

"It's _Allen_." Allen didn't know how much he could emphasize on that. But he didn't argue and instead went up to Kanda and hugged him.

"Merry Christmas, Kanda." Allen looked up at Kanda to hear the teen's response. To the boy's dismay, Kanda averted his gaze and continued his signature scowl. Then he noticed his dad scowling back at him and tapping his foot impatiently on the scarlet carpeted floor. Kanda sighed exasperatingly and muttered under his breath:

"Merry Christmas. . ."

"_And _Happy Birthday." Allen added with sparkles glazing in his misty gray eyes that showed so much life and excitement.

"What?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"It's my birthday as well!" Allen exclaimed.

"Is that an excuse to get you more presents?" Kanda inquired suspiciously.

"No, it's really my birthday!"

"Che, right."

"It's true! And if you don't believe me I'll not give you your presents!" Allen stuck his tongue out at Kanda and stormed over to the Christmas tree. He scooped up a couple of presents that he bought for Kanda with the help of Lavi and started to head out of the room. Kanda rolled his eyes, effortlessly grabbing the back of Allen's shirt and lifted him up in the air. Allen kept moving his legs, ignoring the fact that he was in the air and attempting to get out of the room. Kanda placed a vexed Allen back next to the tree and took away the presents from his arms.

"Shut up and open your presents." Kanda exclaimed, he sat down on a couch and started to open up the presents from Allen.

Allen pouted, a bit annoyed that Kanda didn't believe him, but he reconsidered as he spotted one of his presents which was in a large bag. Allen opened the bag and brought out a large, stuffed and yellow cat plush toy. Allen hugged the stuffed animal and turned to Kanda who opened his present which was lotus shampoo. Lavi told Allen that Kanda liked lotuses and he needs to stop using soap to wash his hair. How Lavi knows this information, Allen didn't want to know. . .

Allen unwrapped all the toys that Kanda and Lavi bought for him when they went to the mall. He was overjoyed to know that he has a Wii console, and even more excited to know that he has a cell phone.

"It was the rabbit's idea." Kanda exclaimed, gawking at Allen awkwardly who was admiring the advanced electronic.

"Oh, youngsters these days. . ." Tiedoll sighed, picking up all the wrapping paper and placing them in a trash bag. "In my day, we were lucky enough to get a small T.V. and radio. When I was your age. . ."

Kanda ignored his dad reminiscing about the past while Allen listened with a curious gaze. He plopped on Tiedoll's lap and cuddled with his stuffed animal that he called Timcanpy.

While Kanda was busy ignoring, he faced the grand piano and walked over to it. He muttered to himself that the instrument pretty much cost a _fortune _and wondered why the hell he bought it anyways for the kid.

Kanda sat at the bench and lifted up the lid, revealing all of the keys that glistened pearly white and smooth ebony. Kanda lightly pressed down on one of the keys, erupting a sweet ring in the air. Then another key was pressed and Kanda turned to see Allen sitting right next to him whom broke into a small smile by the sound.

"Would you like a lesson?" Allen asked curiously, placing all ten of his fingers on the correct keys. "It's easy once you know the keys."

"No." Kanda bluntly said.

"Here, I'll start." Allen then began to play. Closing his eyes, his fingers waltzed across the keys in a blend of slow and swift motions, emitting a beautiful tune that was far from being broken. Tears started to built up in Allen's eyes and he immediately stopped playing, withdrawing his hands from the keys.

"I—I'm sorry. . ." Allen wiped away the tears abruptly and shook his head. "I just realized that I was playing the song that Uncle Neah composed . . . it was the last song he played. . ."

"Then play a different song." Kanda suggested indifferently.

"No. . .I'll play it." Allen placed his hands gently on the keys. "It's such a beautiful song and I'd like to make this a tribute for my family." Allen softly began to play again and held back his tears. "Uncle Neah also made lyrics for this composition . . . it goes like this—" Allen took in a small breath and started to sing as he played.

_soshite bouya wa nemuri ni tsuite_

_ikizuku haino naka no hono o hitotsu futatsu to_

"You repeat the same keys now; just follow my lead on the deeper notes." Allen proclaimed, taking Kanda's right hand and placing them on the same keys as Allen's right. Kanda watched Allen's fingers beforehand and was now following in tow as Allen continued to play.

_ukabu fukurami itoshii yokogao  
><em>_daichi ni taruru ikusen no yume yume. _

"Good, you're getting it, right now I'll do this part solo since it can be confusing by switching from the white and black keys a few times."

"Why are there black keys anyways?" Kanda inquired.

"To give more melody I guess, but you have to play them accurately 'cause the tune would sound messed up if it isn't." Allen exclaimed before playing the notes.

_gin no hitomi no yuraga yoru ni umareochita kagayaku omae  
>ikuoku no toshitsuki ga ikutsu inori o tsuchi e kaeshite mo.<em>

"Here it starts to repeat again, but a few new keys are added, just watch first 'cause afterwards there's a loop and then we'll play at the same time."

_watashi wa inori tsuzukeru_  
><em>douka kono ko ni ai o<em>

"Now follow my lead." Allen cued and the two bagan to play simulatanously.

_watashi wa inori tsuzukeru  
>douka kono ko ni ai o<br>tsunaida te ni kisu wo_

Allen wrapped it up by jingiling the last four keys before withdrawing his hands. He turned to Kanda with his eyes filled with tears which rapidly spilled down his face.

"Merry Christmas, Kanda."

Kanda responded with a small smirk. "You too, Sprout. . .and happy brithday."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**And thus, Kanda's small heart grew 3 times that day XD Well, at least on Christmas. . .Kanda might have opened up a little but he's still a bit of a jerk (coz keeping him in charecter is a must.) ^^ Ah, I totally love the 14th song, I know how to play it on the piano and I'm so proud! XD I'm like, 'I'm gonna go control the ark for a bit, tata~' Although instead of listening to the 14th song/Tsunaida te ni kisu wo while writing this chap since it would make sense, I was listening to Kingdom Hearts music coz KH is just too awesome and now I need to go play the games again but I promised myself to finish this chap first but I kept on delaying it. . .

Anyways, please keep in mind about Cross's line at the end of the previous chap, pretty important to the plot, So please review so updates can come up quickly (and I'd like more than 2 reviews for this chap please, last chap was fairly disappointing.)


	9. School

"Alright everyone, please give a warm welcome to our new student, Allen Walker." The teacher, Mr. Reever stepped aside to reveal a nervous Allen. Allen sheepishly had his head down, afraid to see the kid's reactions. He vaguely heard the students exchanging chains of whispers to one another that all directed back to Allen. They were asking why his hair was white and what was with his scar. Some of the kids said something in between coughs that went along the lines of 'freak,' 'weirdo' and 'creep.'

Allen just arrived at his new school and already he wanted to leave now. He had his left hand in his pocket, fidgeting with his cell phone and feeling the metal becoming sticky from his sweat. He wanted to call Kanda to pick him up, but the teen was at school as well.

Allen turned to the teacher, the only person he wanted to look at right now. He asked in a timid voice so that none of the other kids could hear.

"Can I please keep my gloves on? It's really cold in here." Allen attempted a desperate puppy dog pout that drew Mr. Reever to ponder a bit but then nodded. It would get even worse if anyone knew about his burnt arm. . .

"Alright. Now please take a seat where ever you want."

Allen nodded a 'thanks' and decided to sit in the very back next to a window. As he walked through the aisle, he was getting the cold shoulder from the kids that he walked passed. Allen ignored them and kept his hand tightly around his cell phone. He loosened his grip a bit, collecting a bit of a hope that things will get better.

Unfortunately it only got worst. . .

During recess, a kid named Earl decided to pick a fight with Allen. Earl was a rather pudgy kid who has an everlasting creepy smile that was practically glued to his face. Most of the kids in the playground surrounded the two, chorusing 'fight, fight, fight' and throwing out insults to a beaten up Allen. Earl easily knocked Allen to the ground and kicked him hard in the stomach that forced him to cough out violently.

"C'mon, get up." Earl taunted with the other kids echoing, laughing at Allen who was struggling to get up but Earl kicked him once more to the ground. "Get up you little freak."

Allen was on his back, using his elbows to support himself and hoist upright. He looked at his surroundings to see the kids pointing at him, repeating the words 'freak' over and over again. Allen looked over to find the teacher and beg for help but he was nowhere to be seen.

At the third kick which punctured his side, Allen was tossed over and his cell phone flew out of his pocket. The phone landed just inches away from him, the bottom now smothered in dirt. Allen desperately reached for it but his hand was crushed down by Earl's foot.

"Oh look, you have a cell phone." Earl delightfully picked up the cell phone and examined it with interest. "Wonder how a freak like you could have such a nice phone. Oh well, it's mine now." Earl laughed as he waved the phone in front of Allen's face mockingly. Knowing that the fight was officially over, Earl joyfully strolled away with the phone in hand. Everyone else broke apart the circle and got back to do their own thing, leaving Allen on the ground.

Allen just laid there, utterly stunned on what just happened. His face was bruished and it was stinging him. His stomach was hurting him but he was able to get up steadily. Allem felt a newfound anger built up inside as he watched Earl casually walk away from him. Allen clucthed his side but the pain didn't stop him from dashing over and hurling himself at Earl, shoving both himself and the bully to the ground. Allen threw a surprise punch at Earl's face which he never knew he could ever muster. Allen kept on punching the bully who was gaping at him in great trepidation. Allen saw tears building up in Earl's eyes but he nevertheless kept on beating him up till he was pulled away by Mr. Reever.

"What are you doing, Allen?" Mr. Reever demanded and Allen automatically burst into tears, trying to force the words out but all that came up were hiccups straining his throat.

Earl scrambled to his feet and pointed an accusing finger to Allen. "He was beating me up! I just wanted to see his cell phone and suddenly he started punching me!"

Allen glared at Earl and wanted to yell at him but that would only get him into more trouble. He saw all the kids regroup and surround the three, all eyes angrily at Allen. They all exchanged whispers to each other while still maintaining their hateful gaze. Allen felt his insides just tightening around one another and his heart going up to his throat.

"Lets go to the office, Allen." Mr. Reever suggested and all the kids nodded in unison, especially Earl who was wiping off blood that was dripping out of his nose. Allen had nearly broken it.

"Alright. . ." Allen murmured, hanging his head down in humiliation and steadily followed Mr. Reever to the main office.

x~x~x~x~x

Mr. Reever softly knocked on the door and a 'come in' was muffled through the other side. Mr. Reever opened the door and the two stepped inton a well furnished office with creamy white walls and violet carpeting. There were two leather couches on either side of the room with lamps emitting dimmed fluorescent lighting against the corners. At the back of the room was a black cherry wood desk that held a coffee cup and organized piles of paper. Behind the desk was back of a revolving chair facing the duo whom sat on one of the couchs.

The chair spun around and revealed a man with tan skin and light golden eyes. Allen thought he looked a tad bit like uncle Neah except for the fact that the principal's hair was longer and wore reading glasses that were perched at the tip of his nose.

"Another troublemaker?" The principal, Mr. Tyki Mikk inquired, folding his hands on his lap and crossing his legs. "Isn't this the new kid?"

"Yes." Mr. Reever exclaimed. "Apparently he got into a fight—"

"I'd like to hear the boy's story if you don't mind. You can leave and I'll take it from here." Mr. Mikk waved Mr. Reever off who simply nodded and walked out of the room silently, closing the door which made a soft click.

"Now doesn't that loosen the tension a bit?" Mr. Mikk leaned back on his chair and drummed his fingers on the armrest. " Allen Walker was it? It seems like the first day isn't going to well. So explain what happened."

Allen kept his head down, his back hunched over and was only able to give a small nod to the principal.

"I don't have all day, boy." Mr. Mikk frowned disapprovingly at the kid's somber behavior.

"I'm sorry. . ." Allen murmured and finally looked at the principal with tear filled eyes. "I didn't know what came over me . . . I was just minding my own business and suddenly one of the boy's started to punch me and called me a freak due to my hair and scar. He also stole my cell phone and that was when I punched him back."

"Ah, so that's it." Mr. Mikk trailed off as he rummaged around for something in his suit that seemed to be too formal for a principa; to wear. "Well that's pretty rough to start the first day, ne? Here" Mr. Mikk got out a lollipop and tossed it over to Allen who successfully caught it. "My niece, Road who also goes to this school—I think she's skipping out again—gave me it, but I've had too many sweets that I'm afraid I'll get fat."

"Thanks. . ." Allen smiled slightly and took off the wrapper, gradually placing the cherry flavored treat in his mouth.

"So describe to me this kid that was bullying you." Mr. Mikk encouraged, ready with a piece of paper ad pen.

"I think his name's Earl . . . plus there were other kids who were teasing me but I didn't catch their names." Allen described as he sucked on the lolipop.

"Earl? The oversized boy with the creepy smile?" Mr. Mikk raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"And he called you a freak?"

". . .Yes."

"How ironic." Mr. Mikk remarked quietly and jotted things down quickly on the piece of paper. "Well, I'll have a talk with Earl. As for you, boy, you can go now."

"But there are other kids—"

"You didn't give me their names so there's nothing I can do about that. Right now the main concern is Earl since he purposely hit you. You on the other hand did so as well, but I'm letting you off the hook today since this is your first day. However, I will have to have you stay tomorrow after school for detention."

Allen hung his head lower and sunk in the couch, wanting it to engulf him. How in the world would his new dad and Kanda react to that?

"Hey, don't worry, boy." Mr. Mikk assured. "It's only an hour here in my office."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so don't freak out about it, geez." Tyki scratched the back of his head and the tension was completely lifted as Allen smiled wholeheartedly.

"Okay! So, I can go?"

"Sure, I'll settle things from here. Now go to the nurse and get some ice, boy, your face is starting to swell. " Mr. Mikk instructed and also added as Allen began to leave. "Remember, you're staying after school tomorrow here in my office. Better not forget it, boy."

Allen nodded in understanding and left the office. He lightly touched his cheek, it was pretty bruised up from where the Earl punched him repeatedly as well as the other cheek.

As Allen searched around for the nurse's office while finishing up his lolipop, he caught sight of a familiar face walking down the hall in a hurry. Allen came to a halt and almost dropped the treat as his hands shook slightly in disbelief.

"Lenalee?"

The girl with the two pig tails topped to face Allen with those bright purple orbs, acknowledging that it really was her. Lenalee covered her mouth and ran up to embrace her friend tightly. Allen softly hugged back and it took a while for them to let go.

"I'm so happy to see you, Allen." Lenalee smiled her usual smile that made Allen blush a bit but he shook it off before his friend noticed.

"Yeah, it's been awhile." Allen agreed.

"Oh, what happened to your face?" Lenalee cautiously placed a hand on Allen's cheek.

"I . . . got into a fight. . ." Allen hesitated a bit. "I'm heading to the nurse; do you know where it is?"

"Yes, follow me." Lenalee took Allen's hand and led him down a different hallway. When they reached the office, Lenalee knocked on the door and the two were greeted by the nurse who had shoulder length brown hair and tender eyes.

"H—Hello, Lenalee and. . . Oh, who's this?" The nurse stuttered a bit but she was graced with a small, sweet smile.

"Hi, Miss. Lotto, this is my friend, Allen." Lenalee replied, gesturing towards the bruises on Allen's face. "He got into a fight apparently."

"With whom?" The nurse, Miss. Miranda Lotto asked.

". . .Earl." Allen turned away as he bit down hard on his lolipop, cracking it lightly.

"Oh!" Miss Lotto suddenly gasped that drew the kid's attention. "So you're the one who gave him a bloody nose?"

"Um. . ." Allen fidgeted with his fingers nervously. "I'm really sorry about that, but he started it and. . .I'm sorry. Is he in there?"

"Y—yes." Miss. Lotto stepped inside with the kids in tow. Miranda told Allen to sit in one of the beds while she went off to get some ice packs. Earl was laying on another bed on the opposite side, holding onto a bunch of bloody tissues to his nose as he held his head upright. Earl didn't notice Lenalee or Allen and Allen was rather grateful.

Lenalee sat on the edge of the bed, taking note that Earl wasn't going to be up for a while. He looked more damaged than Allen despite that the latter earned more wounds. Allen was still able to come out strong nevertheless.

Soon Miss. Lotto came back with a pack of ice; she handed it to Allen and told him to apply the ice on the cheek for several minutes before switching to the other cheek. Allen was allowed to stay in the room till he felt better and Lenalee wanted to stay as well to keep Allen company. Miranda agreed but told them not to stay for too long before walking away.

Allen placed the pack of ice to his cheek, relieved by the cool touch that soothed his skin. The two were quiet for a bit till Lenalee started to speak, keeping her voice low.

"I was afraid you went missing, Allen." Lenalee remarked softly. "Like everyone else. . ."

"What do you mean?" Allen asked questionably.

"You didn't see the news or read the papers?" Allen shook his head, the only thing he watched on T.V. were some cartoons.

"Well, a month ago everyone at the orphanage suddenly disappeared." Lenalee began to explain. "Someone came to the orphanage to adopt a kid but the person didn't see anyone there. The police were called over and they looked all over the building and found no one. They've been searching all over town for the kids for a month now and haven't found any trace of them yet. Even Mr. Rouvelier's missing as well."

Allen set the pack of ice to his other cheek and pressed down on it. "Honestly, I don't really care about that guy . . . heck; I'm now suspecting him for everyone's disappearance."

"You're not the only one." Lenalee admitted, she clutched her hands together and bent forward with her bangs falling over her eyes. "He's a horrible person. . ."

Allen patted his friend's back and rubbed a small, soothing circle over her shoulder blade for comfort. He settled the ice pack down since his cheeks were entirely cold and numb now.

"Hey, Lenalee. . . do you think we could go search for everyone?" Allen offered a suggestion.

"No, my brother would definitely not want to do that." Lenalee shook her head slowly. "The police are taking care of it and we shouldn't be involved. . ."

". . . You're right." Allen sighed, quickly declining it without any protest since Kanda would disagree too. Then he paused. " Wait, brother?"

"Oh, yes, I have a brother now. He's the one who you saw at the orphanage." Lenalee exclaimed.

"I have a brother as well. He may be a jerk most of the time, but I can tolerate with it. . . usually." Allen smiled.

At the same exact moment, Kanda sneezed and startled his classmates since they were all working in silence for about an hour. There was another trail of silence till Lavi burst out:

"Bless Yu!"

Kanda glared at him, the rabbit was just begging for a death wish.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** It's almost midnight and I probaly made some mistakes while editing. . .I'll fix them later (I am really lazy right now. . . ) Anyways, I think Kanda's sneeze should've sounded like a little squeak, but I think that would've killed his dignity. . . anyways, the Earl is a bully coz I wanted to put him in some how (and he was probaly OOC but this is his only appearence in this fic, so whatever) Reever is a teacher (couldn't think of anyone else. . .well, there was Komui but he has another important occupation.) and Tyki is the principal! XD I really wanted Tyki to be in this fic so I had to think about how he should be in it. Originally he was gonna be a bad guy but. . .meh. . .I wanted to make him good, well, as good as Tyki can be. Anyways, we see Lenalee again, yeah~ I can hear all the Yullen fans hissing right about now, but Lenalee and Allen are just really good friends in this fic so fear naught. I also figured out how many chaps I'm gonna have (but I'm not gonna tell you how many are left) and scheduled when each chap will be updated. I'm gonna be away on vacation on July 25th thru Aug 13th so I'd like to get at least 5 chaps in before I leave for three weeks (so that's one chap every other day saved for a couple of days since I'll be busy packing and stuff. . .not 100 percent sure on this, I'll say 80 percent.) I have no idea if I'll have internet over there (and if I do, I don't think I'll have any time to write/update.) So yeah, next chap will be Allen in detention and more interaction with Tyki~ And Kanda will appear more next chap, don't worry~


	10. Promise

"I cannot believe you got detention." Kanda slapped his forehead, forcing out each word with such difficulty that Allen sunk deeper and deeper on the couch that he was sitting on. He just came back from the first day of school and explained to Kanda what exactly happened. And of course, the teen wasn't thrilled.

"I'm sorry. . ." Allen mumbled for the one hundredth time, keeping his head low.

Kanda sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose so hard that it stung but he surpassed it. "Listen, Beansprout, you don't pick fights with other people despite that you were beaten and your cell phone was stolen. It would only make things worse and look, things have gotten worse."

Allen raised his head up to frown at Kanda who was pacing around the living room. "Lavi told me you've picked some fights too—"

"That's not the point." Kanda snapped, stopping in front of Allen and glaring down at him. "This isn't about me, it's about _you_. First day of school and already you screwed it up. Look, I can see how difficult this can be for you, but you have to stand up for yourself, idiot."

"You weren't there. . ." Allen muttered. He pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his head on his knees. "The moment I stepped in the classroom, everyone was making fun of my hair and scar. During recess I was being bullied and no one helped me and my cell phone was taken. I didn't have a choice and the only thing I did was gave the kid a bloody nose. . ."

"Idiot." Kanda sat down on the couch and leaned back on the cushions. "You need to grow up."

Allen narrowed his eyes. "I could say the same for you." Allen hopped off of the couch and headed upstairs, ending the conversation right there. Kanda didn't argue and went to his room to do homework.

x~x~x~x~x

Allen entered the principal's office to see Mr. Mikk reading the seventh Harry Potter book at his desk. He had his legs folded on top of the desk and was lounging casually in the revolving chair that he swayed from side to side occasionally. Mr. Mikk perked his head up to see the boy sitting down in one of the couches silently, not saying a word.

"Your cell phone's on the desk." Mr. Mikk gestured his head over to Allen's cell phone that was sitting on the edge of the desk. Allen retrieved it and checked to see if it was messy from the dirt that it was thrown on but it was fine.

"I talked to Earl earlier today, he handed me the cell phone right before I suspended him for a few weeks." Mr. Mikk exclaimed.

"Thanks." Allen gratefully placed the away in his pocket but kept a safe hold around it.

"Sure. . ." Mr. Mikk went back to reading, fully engrossed since he was almost done the book.

Then the room fell into silence except for the quiet waves of the book's pages flipping over. Allen sighed a few times as he swung his legs back and forth to keep himself occupied. He had his eyes on the clock that hung on the opposite side of the wall. He had less than an hour to stay here, this was going to take a while. . .

"Um, Mr. Mikk. . ." Allen shyly spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"Is there anything that could . . . help me fit in with everyone?" Allen asked.

"Well, there's tons of clubs that you could join. There's book club, drama, orchestra; all kinds. There's also a talent show coming up if you'd like to be a part of it. If you win I'm sure you'll get lots of recognition, boy." Mr. Mikk suggested, he slipped a bookmark in between two pages and closed the book. "Do you have any talents, boy?"

"I play the piano." Allen remarked, keeping that timid tone as he looked down at his left hand that was hidden within his pocket, clutching onto the phone.

"That's great." Mr. Mikk praised. "Auditions to join the show will be in a few days and the actual show will be in a month. How the show is going to work is that there will be three judges—I will be one of them—and we will vote to see who wins first, second and third place."

"Oh, I'll definitely be interested in that!" Allen bounced a bit on the cushion excitedly, smiling widely with his eyes sparkling "If I get in the show, can I invite my dad and brother to the performance?"

"Of course, but first we need to find out if you'll be able to perform." Mr. Mikk reminded. "Auditions are going to be after school on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'll be there and so will be the other judges. We'll be meeting in the auditorium and that's just down this hall way, you can't miss it."

"Okay, thank you very much." Allen increased the bouncing and was nearly shooting up towards the ceiling animatedly.

"Calm down, boy." Mr. Mikk picked up his book and starting from where he left off.

"Eep!" Allen toppled off of the couch from jumping too fast and quickly scrambled back to his seat and composed himself. "I—I'm sorry."

"Not at all, boy. It's good that you're in a better mood."

"Oh?" Allen tilted his head to the side questionably but then a small smile crossed his lips. "I guess I am."

x~x~x~x~x

Allen waved 'good bye' to the principal before leaving. Just as he was going to call for a ride home from his cell phone, he spotted Kanda waiting against the wall, crossing his arms. A scowl was plastered on his face as usual, but it didn't stop the kid from rushing towards him with open arms.

"That was more than an hour, Beansprout. What the hell were you-" Kanda was cut off by Allen's hug which almost toppled both of them over.

"Kanda!" Allen cheered; his grip around Kanda was so tight that the teen had to pry the kid off of him with some difficulty.

"Okay, now I don't want to know." Kanda lightly pushed Allen away. "Anyways, I'm taking you home since dad's busy."

"That's fine." Allen nodded in understanding and began to walk out the door with the teen, then he halted. "Wait, does that mean we're walking home then?"

"Yeah, so?"

"It's freezing outside."

"It's not a long walk." Kanda opened the door to let in the freezing air. Allen embraced his coat for warmth as they stepped out to be greeted by winter.

"Not a long walk?" Allen grumbled to himself, pulling his hood over his head and returning his hands back to his pockets. "I'm going to be a popsicle when we get back."

"Shut up, it's not far." Kanda proclaimed, pulling up his own head over but left out a few strands of hair that flew freely in the chilly air.

"Hmmm. . ." Allen looked down to see his boots crunching upon the remaining patches of snow that stuck to the sidewalk. His smile dropped. "You know, dad and I always took walks, so I really shouldn't be complaining. He some times gave me piggyback rides when I felt tired as we go back home." Allen chuckled lightly, but it was a bit strained and forced. "They were always fun, but dad told me that I would have to walk on my own one day. I guess that's your way of saying that I have to grow up, right?"

Kanda didn't answer and it felt like Allen was just talking to himself. Allen gazed back down to his feet that took cautious steps upon the thin layer of snow. There was a small trail of silence and then Allen stopped in his tracks to look up at Kanda.

"Hey, Kanda, can you give me a piggyback ride?"

Kanda stared down at Allen, usually he gives him the usual puppy dog pout if he wanted something but the l kid's expression wasn't clear. His lips were curled awkwardly, not knowing whether to smile or frown. His eyes which were softened, showed signs of uneasiness and grief. They were innocent orbs of gray with tints silver, reflecting off from the sun which was peeking out from the clouds.

Without a word but with a deep sigh, Kanda lifted Allen up and placed him on his back. Allen wrapped his arms around the teen's shoulders to support himself as the teen situated his arms around Allen to secure him. Allen was really light so it was fairly easy for the teen to carry him down the snow covered path.

Allen smiled as he rested his head on Kanda's shoulder. A trickle of tears meandered slowly out of the boy's eyes as he closed them. He murmured a small 'thank you' before silence enveloped the area. He felt snow fall on his nose and then to his cheeks, but Allen didn't shiver. The cold actually felt comforting for once.

"Hey, Kanda?" Allen softly spoke up.

"What?"

"There's going to be a talent show coming up. . ." Allen began; he opened his eyes slowly and gazed out at the houses that they were passing by with the snow falling at a gentle pace. The sun hid back within the clouds and wouldn't be back for a while. "I'd like to join, but first there's an audition that I need to pass in order to get in the show."

"Yeah?" Kanda was becoming impatient but didn't exactly show it as he kept walking. His boots lightly crunched at the snow, or kicked the specks of white out of the way for no apparent reason.

"I'd like to play on the piano for my talent, and if I get in, I'll be very happy so that's why I was so hyper earlier." Allen exclaimed. "The talent show will be in a few weeks, so I'd like you and dad to come."

"Sure, whatever."

Allen frowned slightly and leaned over to meet eye contact with the teen. Allen lend the teen his pinky finger and blocked his vision with it, forcing him to stop walking. "Promise me that, Kanda. Pinky swear that you'll come and see my performance."

Kanda raised an eyebrow at the pinky finger that wiggled in front of his face. Kanda used one arm to support Allen as he used the other to intertwine his pinky finger to Allen's.

"Promise."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** D'awww, Kanda and Allen did the pinky swear promise~ Anyways, sorry about the delay, I was gonna update it yesturday but I was so beat. . .I saw the Harry Potter midnight premiere two nights ago (which was amazing!) and I also went to a party for it so I was so darn tired yesturday. . . anyways, hope you enjoyed this chap~ Oh and I finally read an English translation of the Reverse novel about Allen's childhood in the circus. My reaction: OMG! Allen needs the biggest hug EVER! And I just realized I should've had Cosmos (Cosimos?) as the bully, but whatever, Earl's not appearing in this fic again so forget it. . .


	11. Missing

**A/N:** Okay, I seriously hated the other chap. 11 and decided to delete that one and made this one the new one coz I felt stupid for making the previous one. Considering that I only had one review for that chap, I presumed that that chap wasn't a good one. . .so I present to you the new and improved chap 11. And no, I'm not gonna go into auditions coz it's obvious that Allen got into the show. I'm guessing the lack of reviews is due to Lenalee coming back and Road appearing (from last chap. 11, she makes a tiny cameo here and that's it. . .)

* * *

><p>Allen couldn't sleep, it was the night before the talent show and he was struggling to even close his eyes. Allen sat motionless on top of his bed, staring at nothing in particular. He was fidgeting nervously, becoming anxious about tomorrow. Allen took in slow and steady breaths, trying to calm himself but it wasn't working too well. Allen plopped back to his pillow and tried to close his eyes again . . . didn't work. Jumping off of the bed, Allen decided to run around the room to see if he could tire himself out . . . didn't work.<p>

Allen looked at the clock, it was precisely midnight. Peachy, this was just absolutely peachy. The boy started to walk around in circles and worked on a plan to get back to sleep. Nothing was working out, so Allen decided to go to Kanda's room.

Allen ever so gently opened the door, peeking his head inside to find the teen sleeping soundly in his bed. Kanda was on his side with the sheets and blankets just covering below the waist. His chest rose up and down as his small breathing escaped his lips which were partly open. If Allen listened closely, he could hear the teen mumble something in his sleep.

Allen cautiously crawled into the bed and pulled the blankets and sheets up to his chin. He snuggled against Kanda as he curled himself into a ball within the sheets. Allen rested his head against Kanda's chest and could faintly hear his heart beating in a nice rhythm.

Subconsciously, Kanda put his arms around Allen, cradling close to him protectively. Allen was drawn in closer to the teen's warmth and his heart beat grew louder in his ear. It was a soft tune, beating like gentle drums. Allen placed his left hand over Kanda's and kept his other hand curled around the end of the blanket.

The boy finally closed his eyes with a smile crossing his lips. He began to drift off till he heard Kanda talk in his sleep. He was talking about someone but he wasn't clear on whom. Allen presumed it was himself so he went back to sleep.

"Alma. . ."

Allen's eyes shot open and he looked over to Kanda worriedly. Kanda had a pained expression that Allen never seen before and some how he was terrified. He felt the teen's arms tighten around him, making the boy feel uneasy. Allen squirmed his way out of Kanda's grasps and rolled off of the bed. Allen scrambled to his feet and hurried back to his room.

One part of Allen wanted to stay while the other just wanted to leave. . .the latter won and so Allen stayed in his own bed, dreaming of nothing in particular. Why was it that Kanda was still thinking about Alma? He's been with him for three months now, and the teen hasn't seem to change. Allen wanted to go back to Kanda's room, but he was just going to be more upset.

x~x~x~x~x

Allen didn't sleep well; he staggered downstairs with bloodshot eyes and entered the kitchen, almost bumping into the wall along the way.

"Are you alright, Allen?" Tiedoll asked. He was busy flipping a pancake on a pan. He made the same trick several times with success as a big smile crossed his lips.

"Yeah. . ." Allen yawned drowsily and dragged himself to one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

"Today's the big day!" Tiedoll announced joyously, his voice booming in the room. He placed the pancake onto a plate and handed it to Allen. "Eat up; you have to be awake for your performance!"

Allen nodded, his stomach was rumbling and he couldn't ignore it. He dig into the pancake but had the sense of uneasiness crawling up at him like a spider, he couldn't get it off. Allen finished eating at turned to Tiedoll who was making another pancake.

". . . Dad." Allen hesitated a bit at the word for some reason. "Is Kanda up yet?"

"Yes, he woke up a while ago. He told me that he was taking a walk." Tiedoll replied.

"To where? When will he be back?"

"He didn't say."

Allen slumped in his chair lazily and didn't bother to straighten his posture. "Kanda needs to be back soon. . .the show starts in a few hours."

"Kanda will definitely be back way before that." Tiedoll assured. "He left just ten minutes ago so he should be back shortly, don't worry."

". . .Alright."

There was a heavy knock at the door and Allen ran to it, hopping that it was Kanda. Allen practically threw opened the door but it was only just Lavi.

"Hey, Allen, you excited for today?" Lavi asked, his voice filled with enthusiasm but Allen could only just nod slowly in agreement.

"Is something wrong?" Lavi bent down to Allen's head level. He peered at his face and frowned disapprovingly that the boy wasn't smiling. Lavi then smirked and pinched both ends of Allen's cheeks and stretched them out.

"Smile. You're going to do great today, Allen." Lavi let go of Allen's cheeks so that the boy could smile, but he just gave him a small one.

"Thanks, Lavi. . ."

"No prob!" Lavi stood up and Allen noticed that the redhead teen had a small bag sitting behind him. Lavi picked up the bag and pulled out an elegant looking suit with a red bow.

"Here, I bought this for you so that you can wear it for the performance. I thought it was pretty fitting." Lavi exclaimed as he handed the suit over to Allen.

"You didn't have too." Allen gawked at the outfit in astonishment, the outfit was quite fancy and even had cufflings made out of silver.

"Do you have any other nice suits, Allen?"

"Well, no. . ."

"Then there we go, now try it on!" Lavi encouraged.

Allen nodded wordlessly and headed upstairs to put the outfit on. When the sound of Allen's footsteps disappeared completely, Lavi headed over to the kitchen to find Tiedoll eating at the table.

"Good morning, Lavi." Tiedoll's voice was muffled since his mouth was filled with food but then he swallowed it. "Sorry, how have you been?"

"Same old, same old." Lavi settled into one of the chairs and folded his hands behind his head as he leaned back. "Hey, where's Yu?"

". . ." Tiedoll paused, placing down his fork and gazing down at the unfinished pancake gravely. "Kanda went to visit Alma's grave."

Lavi's eyes widened slightly then settled back to a soften state, twinkling dimly by the lights hung just above them.

"I see . . . so even after adopting Allen, Kanda will still not leave the past behind. Shouldn't we call him to get back here? Knowing him, he's probably going to be there for a long time." Lavi murmured. He let loose of his arms and had them drop to his lap.

"Kanda left his cell phone here."

Lavi grimaced. "Why the hell did Yu go to the cemetery of all days? Today's important to Allen and Kanda shouldn't miss out of it."

"Kanda was having another nightmare about Alma's death." Tiedoll explained. "He didn't tell me, but I could tell in his eyes he had to go visit Alma. I would've stopped him, but he never listens to me."

Lavi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Seriously, Yu? Aren't we too old to have nightmares?" Lavi muttered to himself.

"Lavi. . ." Tiedoll leaned forward and folded his hands onto the table, giving the rehead a stern look. "Please don't tell Allen about this, alright?"

". . . Sure."

x~x~x~x~x

Allen stood backstage and was becoming extremely nervous. What if he messes up? What if he accidently pees in his pants from being so nervous and everyone sees the stain? No, that can't happen! Allen furiously shook his head and put up a determined face.

"I'll do this!" Allen punched a triumphant fist at the air.

"Looks like someone's happy."

Allen spun around and saw his friend, Lenalee skipping over to him and exchanging a quick hug to him before withdrawing.

"Yeah." Allen scratched the back of his head and blushed lightly. "I'm trying to keep myself calm when I perform."

"You'll be fine, Allen. Break a leg!"

"Huh?" Allen blinked in confusion and checked out one of his legs, flexing it a bit and doing the same with the other.

"That's another way of saying good luck." Lenalee explained with a cute giggle. Allen felt embarrassed for not knowing that so his blushing transitioned to a brighter shade of pink. This brought Lenalee to giggle some more and she ruffled her friend's hair.

"Well, I have to get back to my seat before my brother goes crazy and goes searching for me. See ya!" Lenalee waved and skipped off.

Allen waved back, now he was feeling really confident about this. . .although, the memories of last night were replaying in his mind like a tape recorder.

_x~x~x~x~x_

_Hey, Kanda, let's do a pinky swear. _

_Isn't that a bit childish, Alma? _

_What are you talking about? We're still kids, Kanda. Now come on, let's do it. _

_What are we making a promise on?_

_Hmmm. . .not too sure. _

_Then what the hell is with this promise crap? _

_Language, Kanda! _

_Che. . ._

_Anyways, I'm thinking of a promise that we can make . . .oh, I know, we'll make the mayonnaise promise! _

_Mayonnaise promise? _

_Yes, the mayonnaise promise! You see, mayonnaise adds flavor to something that doesn't taste right. Whenever something is weighing you down, I'll find a way to cheer you up and get you back into a happier mood. It's like. . .a metaphor! _

_Metaphor? _

_Yeah, it's comparing two things or something like that. Let's say you have a sandwich, but it has gross stuff like vegetables in it, that would be your foul mood. _

_Hey! _

_But then mayonnaise is placed over the vegetables and the mayonnaise—which is me—makes everything better! _

_But with vegetables, it would taste really disgusting— _

_You don't know till you try. Now, we need to pinky swear the mayonnaise promise. _

_Why this all of a sudden? _

_Well, you've been down lately, so I promise that I'll do my best to cheer you up and you promise to be happy so I can be happy too. I don't like to see you sad. _

_I haven't been sad. _

_Don't lie to me; you recently sprained your ankle from falling off of the bike, but you didn't cry. You can't hide your emotions, Kanda. I'm your brother and I can tell how you're feeling and it's my job as your older brother to fix it. This is the mayonnaise promise, I promise to make you happy and you promise me to stay happy. _

Kanda stood quietly in front of the grave marker, remembering the past with a slight scowl. He ran a hand through his hair which flew faintly by the chilly breeze.

"I can never keep my promises. . ." Kanda pulled at a strand of hair and had the urge to rip it out but he kept himself collected. Kanda kneeled down in front of the grave, staring wordlessly at his brother's name carved deeply in the granite.

x~x~x~x~x

It was time for Allen to go onstage, everyone applauded when he came through the curtains and he felt his confidence dwindle but he stood his ground. Allen avoided from looking at the audience and he went over to the white grand piano. Settling himself down on the bench and scooting it closer to the keys, he took in some calm breaths and waited patiently for the audience to grow quiet.

"I'll be performing the song Tsunaida Te Ni Kisu Wo. . .it's dedicated to my family." Allen exclaimed quietly and began to play. A dark blue spot light showered over him and everyone watched in astonishment as the child played, followed by his angelic singing.

Lavi nervously looked around to see if Kanda arrived. He even reserved a seat for him whenever he came. Lavi turned to Tiedoll, his hand was gripping onto the armrest of the chair that was reserved for Kanda.

The redhead teen turned back to Allen, unaware that Kanda wasn't here. He had a small, innocent smile that glowed with his eyes that were shimmered by tears. The tears spilled out of his eyes and dripped onto the ivory keys. Some of the people in the audience gasped softly and wondered why he was crying. Allen couldn't hear them and continued to perform with that small, innocent smile as the tears kept flowing out. As he kept sing, the song sounded more and more like a prayer.

Lavi glanced over at the empty seat next to him one last time, and just as he did, Allen jingled the last four keys, finishing up the song. All was quiet after that.

_He didn't come. . . _

Lavi and Allen spontaneously thought the same thing since Allen was now looking at the empty seat between Lavi and Tiedoll. Allen sat there stunned as he stared at the seat disappointedly. His smile was gone and his eyes were unable to spill anymore tears. Everyone stood up to give a standing ovation to Allen, but everything was mute to the broken child.

Allen stood up from the bench, took a quick bow and walked off backstage wordlessly as everyone kept applauding and cheering. Lavi stayed in his seat, watching as Allen disappeared through the curtains. Lavi wanted to whack Kanda over the head so badly right now. . .

_x~x~x~x~x_

"And now we're going to announce the winners for this year's talent show." Mr. Mikk announced as he stood in the center of the stage, holding an envelope. He pulled out a piece of paper and began reading from it. "The winner for third place is. . . Road Camelot."

"Third place!" Road burst through the curtains, stomping towards her uncle and grabbed his arm. "Why am I in _third_ place? I should be in first place!"

"Be lucky that you won something." Mr. Mikk rolled his eyes and handed Road a small bronze trophy.

Road stuck her tongue out at her uncle and angrily stormed off while muttering on how she should've won.

"For second place is Johnny Gill."

Johnny excitedly came out from backstage and collected his prize which was a silver trophy. He was going to make a heartwarming speech till he was lightly pushed backstage by Mr. Mikk who seriously wanted to get this over with. The talent show lasted for two hours and the principal really wanted to take a nap.

"And for first place. . ." Mr. Mikk decided to pause dramatically for this, even though this wasn't really a shocker. "Allen Walker."

Everyone applauded loudly as all eyes were fixed on the curtains. A white spotlight was shinned upon the curtains from where Allen's supposed to pop out from. . . but the boy didn't appear.

Mr. Mikk cleared his throat loudly to get the boy's attention as he scooted towards the curtains. "Allen Walker, come and get your trophy."

Everyone fell silent as they waited for Allen to come out. Mr. Mikk kept on clearing his throat, his patience coming to its limit. Mr. Mikk peeked his head through the curtains momentarily til he stepped through and wandered around backstage, looking for Allen. The boy was nowhere to be found.

Mr. Mikk came back onstage after a few minutes of utter silence. The principal straightened up his bow tie and stared back at the quiet audience.

"Has anyone seen Allen?"

x~x~x~x~x

No one was home when Kanda came back to the house after several hours. He went upstairs to his room but then stopped when he passed by Allen's room. Kanda peered inside and saw the room in a catastrophic state. The desk was knocked over, the bed was stripped naked, clothes were scattered everywhere and Allen's cell phone was broken in half. Kanda stood frozen till the chime of his cellphone alerted him. He rushed to his bedroom, grabbed his phone off his nightstand and answered.

"What?"

_"Kanda, it's Lavi, have you seen Allen?"_ Lavi desperatly asked, it sounded like he was running a marathon since he was struggiling to catch his breath.

"No, what's going on?"

_"Allen's gone missing."_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And thus things get more serious. . .I don't have much to say bout this chap except, again, (well, Road won by singing and Jonny won with screaming the loudest, J/K, he did some expreiments and I was too lazy to explain what everyone did.) I've been feeling skeptic, but I want to get to this certain part soon since I'm gonna be leaving on a three week trip in a few days and I just discovered I can't bring my laptop, so I can only bring a notebook to write my stories and fanfics T-T Ah, well. . .anyways, hopefully you liked this chap better and reviews are much appreciated since I really want to know your reactions.


	12. Sanctuary

"So when you got home, you found the brat's room like this?" Officer Cross was standing in the midst of Allen's destroyed room, jotting down notes as he talked to Kanda who was standing against the doorway.

"Yeah, I didn't know what happened."

"Of course you don't, idiot." Cross walked around the room observantly, checking every aspect of the room from the knocked over desk to the endless piles of clothes. He came over to the bed, noting that the sheets and pillows were tossed to the side while the blanket was gone. The blanket was actually the only thing that was missing in the room.

"Here is my theory. . . " Cross began as he pulled out a cigarette, lit it, plopped it in his mouth and drew out a long drag of smoke. Kanda opened up the window so that the smoke could escape. "The brat returned home—"Cross gestured towards the door and then to the desk. "pulled a tantrum and took it all out of his room, and then—" Cross came up to the bed. "he ran off with the blanket, leaving everything else behind. But before he left, he broke his cell phone so he wouldn't contact you." The officer looked down at the cell phone and then to the wall where there were gray markings scratched against it from the impact. "He threw that thing pretty damn hard. . ."

There was suddenly a buzzing sound from Cross's walky-talky that was strapped to his belt. Cross retrieved it and pressed down on a red button to talk. "What do you got?"

"_I've talked to all the people who were backstage during Allen's disappearance. One of the girls named Road said that she was the last to see Allen. When he finished his performance, Road came up to Allen to congratulate and gave him a hug. Allen thanked her and said that he needed some time alone so he left backstage and headed into the hallway where he was last seen. What do you have, Cross?" _

"Aww, I like to hear your voice, Klaud." Cross chuckled and heard Officer Klaud Nine hiss slightly in objection. "Well, I'm at the brat's house and his room's completely trashed. I'm presuming the brat did it since nothing was stolen except for a blanket. There's going to be a pretty nasty blizzard brewing so the brat would have to find shelter somewhere, but from past experience, he's just gonna wander through the snow mindlessly and just beg to be frost bitted."

Kanda looked out of the window, the gray and ugly clouds enveloped the sky in a heavy veil. Snow was beginning to fall and it wasn't going to be long for the storm to imminent.

"How long has Allen lived in your household?" Cross asked curiously, tucking the walky-talky back to his belt, patting it a few times to keep it secured.

"About three months." Kanda replied, keeping his eyes on the lookout.

"Hmph." Cross let out another drag of smoke and came up to the teen's side. "That's not at all a long time to develop a solid relationship, especially in your case. You're really not the type to handle kids and look at what happened."

Kanda was quiet and just kept himself focused on outside, the snow was starting to fall down heavily and was covering the ground to at least a foot now.

"I could bring you into custody for questioning but that depends on what happens when we find the kid. We'll hear his side of the story of this so called 'run away' attempt, 'cause there's no way he would be able to run away from me that easily." Cross laughed sincerely to himself but Kanda barely reacted and rested an arm against the window pane.

"Are we going or are you just going to keep talking?"

"Your suspicion has risen; I would shut my mouth if I were you." Cross remarked crucially before heading out of the room, Kanda following tow with his feet stomping on the floor, irritated by the officer.

Kanda's phone went off and he answered. Just to get his anger risen to the maximum, Lavi was calling him again.

"What is it, rabbit?"

"_Yu, we've rounded up a search party at the school. When the blizzard stops, we're all going to go searching for Allen. You should come over and help." _

"Officer Cross and I are going to look for the Beansprout ourselves, apparently I'm under suspicion." Kanda explined boredly, not liking that he had to tag along with the officer.

"Wow, really?" Lavi gasped dramatically. "Well, good luck with Cross. Officer Klaud is coming with us~" The redhead giggled excitedly like a little child receiving an early birthday present. "Anyways, your dad wants to talk to you." There was some shuffling in the background till Tiedoll's voice rung in Kanda's ear.

"Kanda. . .I'm very disappointed in you right now. I understand that you wanted to see Alma, but Allen's your brother as well and tossing him away like that was ignorant." Tiedoll explained sternly.

"So now _you_ think I was the cause of the Sprout's disappearance?"

"Yes."

Kanda sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He paused and glanced back outside, he could only just see endless snow and the sky transitioning to a darker scheme, indicating that night was approaching.

"I'll be going now." Kanda hung up before he could hear his dad's response. Kanda headed out of the house here Cross was waiting for him in the car. The teen got in the passenger seat and Cross drove through the empty snow covered roads.

x~x~x~x~x

The dense forest was difficult to navigate through, especially when the snow was coming up just below the knees. Allen had his long white blanket wrapped around his shoulders, the edges tied in a knot at his neck, using it like a cover to keep himself from being spotted. His legs were struggling to keep up with his mind that repeatedly told him to keep moving forward and get away. He felt like a rabbit running from a fox but didn't know where to go. He only knew that he had to get away.

Allen looked over his shoulder; he could see the town that he once considered home in the distance. He saw flickers of yellow and white lights winking from buildings and lampposts, signifying that night wasn't long. Allen had to find a place to rest so he scurried his way around the tall trees and came across a narrow cave. A group of trees surrounded the cave so it was hard to spot it, especially in all of this snow.

Allen peeked his head through the slender mouth of the cave and was able to squeeze his body through. He was small enough to get in and for once he was grateful that he was short. Allen stood up and his head almost touched the roof, he walked across the cave aimlessly and then spotted a figure nearby. The figure was away from the mouth so it was hard to distinguish who it was.

"Uh. . . hello?" Allen cautiously stepped forward and the figure shifted around, lifting what appears to be the head and then crawling towards the mouth since the figure was rather tall. When light hit him and it was revealed who it was, Allen sighed in relief and loosened his shoulders that were once stiffened from the tension.

"I'm so glad to see you, Marie."

"What are you doing here, Allen?" Being fifteen, Noise Marie was the oldest of the orphans and one of the few that Allen liked, so the boy was extremly grateful to see him.

"I ran away." Allen didn't hesitate at the statement and sat down on the cold, cavern floor. "How about you?"

"Hold that thought," Marie held up a hand which signaled Allen to be quiet as he listened carefully to something. The only sound which was emitted was the wind howling just like wolves, introducing the start of the fierce blizzard. "Follow me, quickly." Marie crawled away from the mouth of the cave and slide through a dark, narrow passage. Allen followed tow and listened to Marie's legs which were crunching upon pebbles and whatever else was on the ground.

"Where are we going?" Allen asked; squinting his eyes to see any source of incoming light but all there was was darkness.

"This passage leads to the old and abandoned church." Marie answered back. "All of the orphans have been hiding in the church's basement, away from Rouvelier."

"So that's where you guys have been hiding. What happened?"

"Rouvelier always abused you, but after you left, he started to abuse all of us. He was becoming insane to the point that we were frightened and needed to leave. In the middle of the night we escaped by climbing out of the broken window in the piano room. We all had to hide so we found this church."

"Couldn't you have gone to the police or something?" Allen inquired.

"We could've, but that's what Rouvelier would want us to do. We didn't want to be spotted by him; we didn't want to be spotted by anyone."

"I understand why you don't want Rouvelier to find you guys, but why not anyone else? You would be safer than being here."

Marie stopped and Allen bumped into him, the impact making him trip over to the wall. Allen felt himself being pulled back up by Marie and there was a few seconds of silence in the dark.

"Why did you run away, Allen?"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Answer my question."

Allen stared out into the darkness, not knowing whether he was looking at Marie or just the cold, drafty air.

"Kanda. . .the person who adopted me . . . broke a promise and it made me really upset. You see, Kanda had another brother who died in an accident and he can't seem to let go of what happened to him. I didn't know where Kanda was at when I needed him, but I knew he didn't want to be there with someone who's pretending to be his brother. . ."

"That's why." Marie continued on crawling down the passageway, the walls expanding the farther they traveled. "Most of us in the orphanage have been neglected and we don't want to be neglected again. It's hard to know who to trust and who not to trust. . .it's a sad world and we like to keep ourselves isolated."

Marie stopped again and Allen was able to prevent himself from bumping into him. Marie reached for something solid in front of him and once his fingers brushed across from it, he gently knocked on it three times, paused, knocked two more times, paused, and knocked three more times. Allen heard running footsteps and something being removed as a bright light was being poured into the cave. A boy's head poked through the opening, he had markings under his eyes and wore a coat with a long hood, ending with a bell attached to it.

"Hey, Marie and. . .Allen!" The boy's eyes widened and he aimed a shaking finger at the latter. "What's he doing here?"

"Calm down, Daisya." Marie ventured into the room, followed by Allen. "He ran away and just happened to come across our hideout."

Allen took a good look at the hideout; it was obvious that it was below a church due to the lit candles and statues that were put off to the side to make space. In the center of the room sat all twenty of the orphans, all staring at Allen in surprise. One of the boys stood up and was not thrilled.

"That's not a good enough reason for him to be here." The boy came up to Allen angrily, practically spitting in his face. He had bedridden hair that was sticking all over the place and was slightly pudgy. "He's a freak."

Allen didn't say anything while Marie got between him and the boy. "You calm down too, Chaoji. Would you rather have him outside in the cold, freezing to death? He's no different than you and me so quit it." Marie proclaimed, he took Allen's arm and dragged him over to the rest of the orphans in the circle, towering over all of them as he spoke:

"Listen, a huge blizzard is coming our way so everyone has to stay here, keep each other warm and let loose on the remaining food supply that we have. When the storm's cleared out, we'll search for more food, but right now we all have to stay here. Daisya, is the entrance blocked?" Marie turned to Daisya who was standing in front of a statue of an angel that blocks the hidden passage way.

"Yeah, it's closed." Daisya nodded, leaning against the statue and crossing his arms triumphantly, feeling proud that he was pretty much the gatekeeper.

"Good." Marie smiled slightly and walked over to sit between some kids within the circle, joining in on a conversation.

Allen went over to the circle as well but Chaoji blocked him, showing signs of disgust at the boy's presence.

"I still don't understand why you came back." Chaoji muttered.

"I ran away, what more can I tell you?" Allen inquired softly, not wanting to get into an argument.

"Just don't do anything stupid like exposing our cover." Chaoji answered and stalked away to another part of the room, keeping his distance from Allen.

Allen watched Choaji walk away into the shadows till he disappeared. Allen didn't want to get on anyone's nerves and it seems he has already. Well, he and Choaji weren't the best at the orphanage, they had quite a few arguments that usually resulted in a beating. Allen grimaced at remembering that and shook his head, wanting to forget about that horrible place. Then to throw him off, Allen felt something tugging him backwards, nearly causing him to trip. Allen turned away and saw a pair of six year old twins tugging on his blanket.

"Oh, hi Jasdero and Devit." Allen greeted.

"Give us the blanket," Devit pulled out a toy gun and aimed it at Allen's head."and no one gets hurt."

"Sure, I don't need it anymore anyways." Allen unfolded the blanket from his shoulders and willingly handed it to the twins.

"Hehe!" Jasdero giggled and huddled a large portion of the blanket before it was yanked away by Devit.

"Hey, don't hog all of it!" Devit complained.

"Eh?" Jasdero tilted his head to the side questionably. "But I want it, he."

"There's enough for both of you to share." Allen exclaimed. "But it might tear if you two fight over it so be careful."

"Hmph." Devit shrugged indifferently while Jasdero was snuggling with the soft fabric, ignoring what Allen was saying.

The older boy then felt a draft; he had the blanket on him for a few hours so now he was shaking slightly. The only warmth in the room were the candelabras, giving the room an orangey-yellow glow that was seemingly haunting but gave a serene atmosphere since they were in a sanctuary.

Allen glanced around the basement; most of the kids were in a circle talking while others got up to collect some blankets and pillows for everyone. Allen looked over at the twins who were finally able to cooperate with one another to share Allen's blanket. The two sat down next to each other, huddled close as the blanket was fastened around them comfortably.

Allen subconsciously put his hand in his pocket to retrieve something but could only clutch onto air. He just remembered that he broke his cell phone and left it just laying there in the room, completely destroyed. Allen frowned, reminiscing on how much destruction he caused in his room to expose his anger. He never knew he could get that much upset. . .

"Dang it. . ." Allen slid down one of the stone walls and placed a hand over his eyes. "Why did I break such an expensive phone?"

"Is something wrong?" Marie came up to sit next to Allen. He was carrying a group of blankets and pillows and handed one of each to Allen. Once the boy received the pillow, he hid his face within it.

"No, I'm just idiotic right now. . ." Allen's voice was muffled through the pillow. He lifted his head up and looked at Marie. Allen for once felt grateful that Marie was blind since he couldn't see the small threads of tears meandering out of Allen's eyes.

"I . . . I don't think I should've run away. . ." Allen murmured, promptly wiping away the tears and resting his head on the pillow. "I want to go home, but I don't want to be constantly thrown away over and over again . . . Kanda can't forget his real brother, he can't let go of the past. The ironic thing is that he told me to grow up, but I think he was right on that. Maybe I'm just as dense as Kanda and don't know what to do . . ."

"Allen. . ." Marie reached a hand towards Allen but the boy brushed it off and stood up.

"I need some time alone." Allen walked off and found a wooden ladder that led to an upper floor. Allen climbed up the ladder and found himself in the prayer room. It was entirely dark in the room saved for a few specks of light from the window and one flicker of a candle dancing in the dark.

Someone was holding the candle and when the person came closer, it turned out to be Chaoji.

"What are you doing here?" Chaoji hissed, the fire underneath his face made his face glow hauntingly and his dark eyes widen in a rather horrific way.

"I'm just walking." Allen remarked, wanting to keep the conversation short and simple.

"That's what you want me to think." Chaoji retorted, keeping a suspicious glare on the younger boy as he began to circle around him. The two were standing near the altar and just in front of the first row of pews. Allen sat himself down on a pew while Chaoji kept his eyes locked on him like a hawks. Allen ignored him and glanced around the stain glass windows that bled out small streams of light within the dark.

Choaji was about to speak again till the heavy, front doors creaked opened, letting in the wind that was howling more viciously than before. The candle that Chaoji held blew out and suddenly the wind died down. The creaking of the two, mahogany doors echoed loudly in the massive hall, causing the two boys to freeze as they saw who had entered the church. Their hearts were practically in their throats when they saw that it was Rouvelier.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Yay for suspense~ Okay, next chap will come out tomorrow morning (hopefully, coz I'm leaving later for vacation in the afternoon the next day.) And yes, I made Chaoji a jerk 'cause he is pretty mean to Allen and so he's mean here too~ So hopefully you liked this chap coz next one will be quite intresting~ ^^ Thanks for all the awesome reviews last chap, I really appreciated them~


	13. Bell

The lights from the massive chandelier flickered on, blazing a brilliant gold that overlapped the once shadowy places. Allen and Chaoji immediately ducked under the pews before they were spotted. Allen's heart was racing fast as he heard Rouvelier's heavy footsteps marching down the aisle. Both boys stayed down on their stomachs, watching the man's feet coming closer and closer towards them. They held their breaths when the feet came to a halt at the front row of pews where the boys were at.

"I know you're in here . . . somewhere. . ." Rouvelier's voice echoed eerily in the room.

Allen felt Chaoji's glare digging into him from behind but he couldn't move. Allen kept watch on the man's feet, motionless on the dusty, laminated floor, few inches from him. The feet steadily moved, right over left, the heel followed by the toes. They tapped onto the floor softly like tiny drums or a heartbeat, circling around the aisles a patience that was dwindling in seconds.

Allen gulped down heavily and twisted his body slightly to face Chaoji who was perfectly still as he too watched Rouvelier's movements. The glare that Chaoji was giving Allen before was forgotten since the older boy was now trembling in fright, struggling to stay calm.

Allen was shaking his head as he bit down on his lip, signaling Chaoji to not make any noises. The other boy however, returned to glaring at Allen, indicating that he didn't want to be told what to do. Chaoji's trembling had stopped and unexpectedly, he writhed out of his hiding spot and rolled across the floor quickly.

_Chaoji!_ Allen scrambled out and hurried over to Chaoji who was running to another part of the room as fast as he could.

_Bang! _

The two froze; Allen had a hand out towards Chaoji who was staring wide eyed at the small hole engraved in the wall. A thin line of grave smoke glided out of it and vanished when it reached up to a certain point.

"That was only a warning." Rouvelier remarked callously with venom in his voice, holding up a silver pistol in his gloved hands. He had it aimed at the boys, his finger on the trigger.

"What's this about?" Allen inquired; staying still as he tensely glanced over at the hole that the bullet made.

"Simple. I'd like to get rid of you brats once and for all so I don't have to deal with your constant whining and disrespect." Rouvelier pulled the trigger and the two boys ducked to the ground to avoid the second bullet.

"You're insane!" Chaoji blurted out, rolling back beneath another pew. Allen jumped over the pew that Chaoji hid under and slid behind a column made of black marble.

"I'll take that as a compliment. . ." Rouvelier bent over to find Chaoji under a pew but he was switching to several different ones swiftly, but Rouvelier wasn't currently shooting anymore bullets.

Allen glanced around hastily before he set his eyes on a narrow staircase that was put off to the corner. He wondered where it led to but he had other things to be concern about. Right now Allen was against the column, fidgeting with the inside of his pocket and hoping that his phone would just appear.

Allen peered behind him with apprehension and saw Chaoji with his hands over his head and ducking down into another pew. Rouvelier was just standing there at the altar, watching, as if he was amused at seeing the boys try to avoid getting killed. Rouvelier wasn't smiling to show that he was amused, but there was a twinkle in his eye that suggested that he was being entertained right now. Rouvelier was probably saving on his bullets, Allen of course had no idea how many bullets are in a pistol, but he hoped that the sick man uses them without anyone being hit by them.

The boy clutched his hands into fists and did a quick dodge roll to another column. He turned back to the pews to see Chaoji still down on the same pew, refusing to get out of his spot while Rouvelier was staring down at the pew that Chaoji was under. He raised the gun up, turning it a bit so that the silver was reflected off by the chandelier's light. It also showed a vague reflection of him and then to Chaoji as he aimed the gun to the older boy's direction.

Allen walked out into the opening and then jumped on top of a pew, entirely balanced. Rouvelier didn't notice him so Allen did something stupid that he would probably regret but he did it anyways. Allen ran forward, leaping across the top of the pews till he reached Chaoji's. He raised his arms up as if he could fly as he hurled himself towards the man. Allen used a round house kick to knock the gun out of Rouvelier's hands, having it fly backwards before landing with a soft thud.

Allen was now standing on top of the pew that Chaoji was under, Rouvelier just a few feet from him. The man was glaring at him cruelly with those silted eyes that were just like a snake's. Allen gulped down, realizing what he did. When he was living at Kanda's house, he sometimes found the teen in his room working on martial arts moves when he wasn't doing his homework. Guess just watching him doing those moves really paid off and he was able to do them without realizing it.

The boy smiled widely despite the glare that he was receiving. He was about to say something till Chaoji grabbed Allen's arm and dragged him down the aisles and back behind one of the columns in a flash.

"We need to get back to the others." Chaoji whispered abruptly to Allen, compeltly out of breath even though he didn't do much.

Allen nodded, his smile gone and was replaced with a determined expression but there was signs of hesitation. How were they going to get to the hideout when the entrance was near the altar where Rouvelier was at?

"One of us needs to stay here and distract him. . ." Allen proclaimed, his eyes turning over to Rouvelier who was now getting the gun.

Chaoji paused; sweat was breaking out of his forehead and sliding down his face. He glanced at the entrance which was closed by a hidden door and then to Rouvelier who was directly across from it now. The altar was in between; tall enough for the boys to hid behind and make a quick run for the hidden door.

"Chaoji, you go warn the others." Allen narrowed his eyes as he noticed Rouvelier adding in a few more bullets to the gun. "I don't think I would be good at persuading them, so you go. Tell them that they have to get out—"Allen glanced back at the one window that wasn't stained glass. He could hear the winds howling and the snow racing down fast, the storm was far from its prologue now.

"No, we can't get out. . ." Allen explained gravely. "The storm's getting worst outside, we'll just freeze to death."

"So we just have to stay down in the basement?" Chaoji inquired.

"Yes, I'll make sure Rouvelier doesn't spot you and I'll get down when I have the chance. We can't let him find the others."

"Alright. . ." Chaoji sighed, he closed his eyes and he stretched his arms and legs around in circles, ready to make a run for it.

"Hey, Chaoji," Allen paused as he took notice of the spiral stair case that were settled at an isolated part of the room. "Do you know where that staircase leads up to?"

"It leads up to the bell tower." Chaoji answered. "Why?"

"Hmm. . ." Allen pondered on something before a light bulb sparked on. "I know it would be risky, but I was thinking about ringing the bell—"

"Are you crazy!" Chaoji cried and Allen covered his mouth swiftly.

"If I wasn't than I wouldn't have kicked the gun out of that guy's hands." Allen exclaimed. "Anyways, I don't have my cell phone with me, so I'm going to use the bell to contact help."

"But the church is miles away from town, how would anyone hear the bell?" Chaoji stated.

"Well, I just have to ring the bell as loudly as I can." Allen responded with a small, confident smile. The boy turned back to Rouvelier who was walking steadily down the aisle, coming towards them with his aiming gun. By his coldhearted eyes, he was going to rightfully finish this.

"Go. I'll take care of this." Allen ordered urgently.

Chaoji paused as he stared at Allen now worriedly. He nodded and swiftly dashed off, circling the columns that surrounded the room in a semi circle before stopping at a group of stain glass windows. Chaoji hid behind the last column and glanced over at Allen who walked casually in front of Rouvelier.

x~x~x~x~x

"Well this is just great." Cross growled, fishing for his pack of cigarettes but it would get really stuffy in the small car if he smoked. Cross's police car got stuck within all the snow that was reaching up to four feet. Cross repeatedly tried to drive through the endless snow that was piling up but was unable too.

"We're stuck." Cross concluded, leaning back on his seat. "We should've left when the blizzard was over."

Kanda sat there in the passenger seat, glaring silently at the vast snow before them. Not only was it snowing harshly, but it was becoming night time now. However, it didn't stop Kanda from unbuckling his seatbelt and getting out of the car.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cross plopped an unlit cigar between his lips and eyed the teen suspiciously.

"I'm continuing the search alone." Kanda responded, wrapping the scarf around him tightly before he opened the door and let in a large gust of wind.

"You're going to get buried in the snow." Cross explained and Kanda's response to that was slamming the door shut ruthlessly and hurrying off.

Cross watched Kanda run through the layers of snow before disappearing through a silver and gray mist with snow coming down rapidly.

"Idiot." Cross muttered.

x~x~x~x~x

Chaoji took several seconds by catching his breath and clasping his hands together. It was the right place to pray, so Chaoji was quickly whispering something as he closed his eyes. Taking in one last self-assured breath, the boy dashed forward to the hidden door and threw it open. While Chaoji went down to the basement to warn everyone, Allen was confronting Rouvelier.

"Were you spying on me?" Allen asked curiously.

"I just spotted you in the forest and decided to see where you were going." Rouvelier replied. "I couldn't fit in the cave so I went around finding that the cave leads here. Shouldn't you be with your adopted family now?"

Allen paused and gazed down at the floor solemnly, resulting in a smile to cross Rouvelier's face.

"I see, you weren't wanted. That's no surprise really; after all, you're a little freak. There's no way anyone would want to adopt you."

Allen's head shot up and he felt his blood boil at that comment that's always being repeated to him. His eyes were set ablaze as they narrowed downward with his eyebrows. The boy rushed forward with a newfound speed as he kicked Rouvelier effectively in the groin. Rouvelier's eyes widened in utter shock and he dropped down in agonizing pain.

"_That _was a warning!" Allen spat out angrily before running towards the spiral staircase. He rushed his way fast, his heart beating loudly in his ears as he climbed up the stairs.

Allen found himself in a circular room made entirely of limestone. There was a stain glass window in the shape of a cross, bleeding out streams of moonlight. It was completely quiet since the wind has now died down; the blizzard seemed to stop momentarily. Allen looked up and spotted a large, bronze bell. Attached to the bell was a rope that was long enough to reach the floor.

Allen glanced at the stained glass window hopefully as he grabbed hold of the rope. "Answer me, anyone. . ."

Allen pulled down on the rope and the angelic ringing of the bell swaying back and forth was erupted. Allen repeatedly rang the bell, praying to himself for his call to be answered. He shut his eyes as he pulled down on the rope, letting loose the harmony that the bell had to offer. He wanted someone to hear him, and suddenly Kanda flashed in his mind. Allen wanted to see him, he wanted to see him and apologize for running away. He also wanted to give him a hug but also whack him on the head for breaking the promise.

Allen chuckled to himself but it was let out choked since he was hiccupping. Tears were racing down his cheeks but he couldn't wipe them off. He had to continue ringing this bell, hoping that someone would hear him and help everyone. He was hoping that Kanda would come, but he doubt that he would be able too. . .

Nevertheless, Allen kept on ringing the bell as hard and quickly as he could to let out more noise. He kept a small smile on his lips, hanging onto the rope that was pressing rather hard on his hands but he kept pulling it down.

Then, his grip suddenly loosened when an excruciating pain punctured his foot, causing him to drop to one knee. He was too busy ringing the bell that he didn't notice the bullet piercing his foot, nevertheless hearing the bang.

Rouvelier was standing at the top of the stairs, holding the gun that was letting out smoke from the barrel. He was smirking, his mocking smile glancing down at the boy who was gasping from the pain. However, Allen still had his hands on the rope and was pulling it down, letting out the bells ringing once more.

Rouvelier sneered and didn't hesitate to shoot another bullet at Allen's other foot. Allen clenched his teeth, preventing himself from screaming as he was forced to get on his knees. Allen kept on ringing the bell, pulling down the rope as hard as he could while ignoring the horrific pain in his feet.

"Pathetic." Rouvelier derided, keeping that smirk that showed no sympathy as he watched the blood flowing out of Allen's feet. "How about you stop this little game of yours?"

The third shot was at the boy's right hand. Allen bent forward, letting loose of the arm but kept the left hand pulling down on the rope. Allen really wanted to scream, but he just couldn't. Rouvelier was hovering over him, laughing.

The fourth shot was at the boy's left hand. Allen raised his head up, now ready to scream but he kept a firm grip on the rope despite that his hand was fatally wounded. He wasn't stopping from pulling down on the rope and ringing the bell, he didn't stop to begin with. Allen turned to Rouvelier and it was his turn to smirk at him.

The boy felt nausea overwhelming him but didn't react; instead he was smirking at the man holding the gun. To make the boy's smile widen more, he heard the massive doors in the prayer room barging open and footsteps storming in.

Now Allen had the upper hand as the man's face paled and his eyes widened in fear. He was now caught, but that didn't stop him from using the gun one more time.

Allen's smile vanished as blood meandered from his lips. His hand slipped off of the rope and he fell against the stone wall. Allen moved the hand over to his chest where the bullet had punctured it. Allen's breathing quickened as he tried to speak but they only came out as whimpers.

Rouvelier stepped back; his hand trembling as he subconsciously dropped the gun. Without a second thought, Rouvelier hurled himself out of the stain glass window, the shattered pieces of glass scattered all over the place.

Allen peered at the broken window with his eyes half way closed. In the distance he thought he heard a familiar voice calling his name, asking where he was in a loud voice. His mind was too blurry to think of who it could be; all he could clearly hear was his heart. The beating was decreasing as each second passed by. He looked outside, the blizzard had ended and the pale light of the moon showered over him. If he planned this out cautiously and waited just a bit longer, everyone could've escaped just fine including himself. He let out a chuckle, mocking himself till his eyes finally closed and head dropped to his side. Just as his smile was let loose, footsteps were racing up the spiral staircase.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** *Quickly goes on plane and flies off before angry mob could catch her* I'll see you all in three weeks!


	14. Shore

**A/N:** Hey guys! Did you miss me? :D *dodges oversized watermelons being thrown at her at an incredible speed and hides under bed.* ehehehe. . . um, enjoy the chap~

* * *

><p>"Yu, I came as quickly as I . . . could. . ." Lavi trailed off as he stared at Kanda and then at the group of children who were with him in the waiting room of the hospital. One of the kids was sitting on Kanda's lap but the teen didn't care nor he felt the need to argue since he was in a very vex mood.<p>

"Are those the orphans?" Lavi asked, he pulled up the only chair that wasn't occupied by a kid.

"Yeah, I found them in the basement after I found the Sprout." Kanda answered, keeping his gaze away from Lavi but on the closed, gray doors of the operating room.

There was a small trail of silence aside from the little whimpers the orphans were emitting. The older kids like Marie and Daisya were quiet but felt a weight of remorse on their shoulders. Chaoji had his face hidden within his hands with tears seeping out in between his fingers. He was one of the louder ones, especially since he was the last to see Allen.

Lavi placed a comforting hand on Chaoji's shoulder. "Hey, everything's going to be fine. Why don't you and the rest of the kids go to the bathroom and wash up."

Chaoji pulled away his hands and revealed his face which was stained with old and new tears. He steadily nodded and he and the rest of the children walked out of the room wordlessly. Marie was the last to leave the room, he wanted to say something but he was too stunned to even open his mouth.

Lavi closed the door and made sure there were no kids were leftover. The teens were the only ones in the room so Lavi got up from his seat and moved over to the one next to Kanda.

"The doctors said that he may not make it. . ." Kanda explained slowly. "He was shot five times and one of the bullets got lodged in his heart. It would be risky to pull the bullet out but they have to do it, they can't just leave the bullet there. When I found the Sprout at the church, he was barely breathing and it took a while for the ambulance to come. One of the kids's said it was Rouvelier's doing but apparently he escaped."

Kanda was clutching onto something in his coat pocket but Lavi didn't notice. Instead, Lavi stood up from the chair and curled his hand into a fist. Without hesitation, Lavi whacked Kanda upside the head rather hard. Kanda was stunned for a split second before his expression changed back to his usual scowl. He was about to speak but Lavi grabbed the collar of the teen's shirt and effortlessly hoisted him up to his eye level.

"Why can't you ever listen to anyone, Yu? Why can't you do just one simple thing for us? For your brother? Allen ran away because of your ignorance and now he's in the hospital. When Allen wakes up, you better apologize to him. Not only that, you need to take care of him till he fully recovers. Can't you do that, Kanda?" Lavi didn't yell but simply explained in a tone that was diffrent than the quirkiness that usually came out from the redhead. This nearly threw Kanda off but he didn't want to be intimidated by the teen who sleeps with a toy hammer at night.

Lavi let go of Kanda's collar and the teen plopped back to his seat. Kanda glared up at Lavi, but the redhead's glare was harsher. Lavi sat back down and crossed his arms, not saying anything else.

x~x~x~x~x

_I hear the sound of waves nearby. _

"Hey, are you awake?"

_Who's that? _

"Hey."

_Hi . . .? _

"Raise your hand if you're awake?"

_I can't . . . no wait . . . I can. . ._

Allen cracked open his eyes and saw something bright which forced him to shut his eyes. Was it the sun? Allen squinted his eyes opened slightly and saw that it wasn't the sun, but rather a halo. The halo was levitating over the head of a boy around Allen's age. He looked a bit familiar but Allen was too tired to think. Nonetheless he was able to feebly raise his hand up which was soon clasped by the other boy's hands.

"Yay, you're still here!"

"Here . .?" Allen sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was on a remote beach with white sand and bluish silver waters. It was twilight and the sun was sinking just over the horizon, giving the sky a rich golden color.

"This is your dream." The boy said, he was hovering just a few feet in the air with the support of a pair of small wings on his back. "The doctors just put the anesthetic on you and began surgery."

"What kind of surgery?"

"Heart surgery, you have a bullet in your heart and they need to remove it. They also need to get the bullets out of your hands and feet. It will be pretty difficult, but you'll make it through."

Allen stared at the boy, and then at the shore. The warm water brushed past his feet, there were a few pebbles here and there that bumped into his toes but it was a nice feeling.

"I'm Alma by the way." The boy greeted with a small smile, his hand still connected to Allen's as he shook it gently. "I guess you could say I'm your guardian angel."

x~x~x~x~x

"I'm so glad you're joining me on this case, Klaud." Cross smirked as he draped an arm over the officer's shoulders. Once Cross did that, Klaud nudged an elbow to his rib and backed away to another part of the bell tower.

"We need to get to business." Klaud explained blankly and went over to inspect the small, circular room. The edge of the bell's robe was smeared with Allen's blood and so was one of the walls. The broken window was on the other side with the shattered pieces of glass scattered all over the floor. It was nighttime so the moon's light seeped out of the window and fell onto the shards, making them sparkle dimly.

Klaud ventured to the window and looked out to find a thirty foot drop that led to the snowy ground. There were piles of snow to avoid imprints but there were small hints of footprints that didn't travel far. There were a cluster of trees that blocked the path, but where the footprints ended was in the direction where the woods become denser.

"Despite the snow breaking his fall, he would at least be injured from breaking through the window and dropping several feet to the ground. Therefore he wouldn't be able to travel far so he must still be in the woods, if not just getting out of it." Klaud stated.

"It's been two hours now, that's enough time for him to have a head start." Cross got out his long, silver gun from his belt and aimed it upwards for a dramatic effect. "Once this stupid case is done I can finally take a damn vacation."

x~x~x~x~x

"This is taking too long. . ." Kanda muttered, glaring at the clock in which the hands were moving at an awfully slow pace.

Lavi was busy reading a book to some of the kids, while the others were taking naps on their chairs. The teens haven't interacted with each other since their argument and that was just a few hours ago. The surgery was indeed taking a long time and Kanda's patience was dwindling quicker than it ever was.

Kanda turned his attention to the doors of the operating room. The room was sound proof so Kanda couldn't hear what was going on in there and so the silence was really irking him. He fidgeted with something in his pocket and gritted his teeth. Kanda arose from his chair and started to head out the door, abruptly saying that he'll be back shortly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Man this chap's short *gets whacked on the head with a watermelon* but more things will happen in the next chap, I assure you, this is build up to the next chap which will be intense (well, hopefully coz something epic is gonna happen~) Anyways I think Lavi hitting Kanda is pretty OOC but isn't that an intresting image? Plus Kanda deserved it since it was pretty much his fault for Allen to run away. Anyways, updates are gonna be a bit longer since I only have 2 weeks left till school starts and have to get ready *shudder*. But I'll see how things go so I'll try to update the next chap soon.


	15. Family

**A/N:** Truly, truly sorry for the delay, I've been just so busy in school, it's ridiculous. Well, here's the chap, please enjoy~

* * *

><p>"So you're Kanda's brother?"<p>

"Yup, nice to meet you." Alma shook Allen's hand abruptly, giving him a genuine smile that was both sweet but held a hint of melancholy behind it.

"Nice to meet you . . . too. . ." Allen repeated slowly, getting his head together to understand what has just happened.

"Hmmm? Something wrong?" Alma stared closely at Allen's face, seeing a few specks of tears in his eyes. "Oh, you're crying. You shouldn't be upset."

"I'm just . . . surprise that I'm still here." Allen exclaimed, speechless as he quickly wiped away the incoming tears.

"You'll have to thank Kanda for that; he's the one who found you."

"Kanda. . .did?"

"Mmm-hmmm." Alma nodded. "And he's probably waiting for you in the hospital right now."

x~x~x~x~x

The remnants of the blizzard were still alive as a harsh wind was blowing at a crazy speed. Rouvelier marched his way towards the end of the woods, his arms wrapped around his coat to keep himself warm. The grayish black clouds were breaking apart, showing the moon that was hovering just above the trees. The branches waved wildly in the air, they were like long extended claws trying to grab their fallen leaves that were being stolen by the whistling wind. An howl hooted in the distance, followed by the howling of a wolf that the man feared was behind him.

Then suddenly, all sound stopped at once. Rouvelier froze himself and stared out into the darkness, just waiting for something to appear. Footsteps were approaching in a gradual pace and out of the shadows appeared Kanda holding a gun. The gun that Rouvelier dropped back at the tower. Wordlessly Kanda aimed the gun at the man who only chuckled bitterly.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Rouvelier asked, crossing his arms and watching in slight amusement.

Kanda only glared as he kept the gun in range of the man's head. He cocked the gun and had his finger on the trigger, his pitch black eyes showed that he was entirely serious about this.

"How much did you care for that brat?" Rouvelier now asked; he took a few steps backward till he felt the rough bark of a tree. "Do you think avenging him would just solve everything?" Rouvelier reached for something behind him while Kanda was occupied with aiming the gun at the target. There was only one bullet left in the gun so he wanted to make sure he makes a direct shot.

"Why did you do it?" Kanda ignored the man's questions and asked this one with a void of emotion.

"Children are immature and don't respect their elders. That child was such a nuisance; he deserved it for never following my orders." Rouvelier exclaimed.

The alarming sound of a siren wailed in the night, Kanda abruptly turned to the direction of the noise, giving time for Rouvelier to break into a run. Kanda cursed under his breath for getting distracted and chased after the man. Rouvelier jumped over logs and brushed away branches that were hanging down from bent trees. He clutched onto something as he disappeared deeper into the forest, avoiding the police car that was no doubt after him, but Kanda was on his tail.

Rouvelier didn't get far as Kanda finally pulled the trigger. The man toppled over to the ground, his hand over his which was bleeding rapidly. He gritted his teeth, preventing himself from screaming as he glared up at the teen who was hovering over him.

"Now you know how the beansprout felt. If only I could've shot a few more bullets at you." Kanda muttered, tossing the empty gun away as he kept his eyes on Rouvelier.

"Humph, you're wrong about that." Rouvelier smirked, having a strange glint in his eye that took Kanda back a bit. "The first place where I shot the brat was the foot, similar to this."

Kanda didn't have time to react when a pocket knife was hurled into his foot, nailing it to the ground. Kanda kicked Rouvelier away with his other foot before the man could drive the blade down to the hilt. The teen broke the knife away from his foot and toppled backwards as an agonizing pain soared through his leg like a lightning bolt. Kanda was seriously going to kill this guy. The man was laughing like mad despite that his shoulder was bleeding and that Kanda had his hand at his throat.

There was a small pool of blood underneath them, dying the snow a brilliant crimson as it glowed by the moon's light. The blood trailed to the feet of Cross and Klaud, the two rushed over before Kanda could permanently kill Rouvelier. The only thing that the teen was able to do was strangle him till he was out cold. Kanda breathed heavily as he was pulled away by Klaud, not having enough strength to protest.

Cross let out a long drag of smoke as he looked down at the limp body of Rouvelier. "Well, this takes care of that case, finally. Klaud, take the kid home before he freezes to death."

"No, I'm going to the hospital." Kanda retorted. "I need to see beansprout."

x~x~x~x~x

"What happened to you, Yu?" Lavi asked the black haired teen who limped into the waiting room since he was on crutches.

"Shut up. Is the surgery over?"

"Yeah, they moved Allen to another room so he could rest; we'll be able to see him when the doctor allows it."

Kanda looked around the room, all the orphanages were still here but he didn't saw his father. "Where's dad?"

"Kanda!"

Kanda turned to see his father at the doorway with Officer Cross next to him. Tiedoll was obfuscated as he had his mouth dropped while Cross was smirking.

"You almost got killed? My poor boy!" Tiedoll rushed up to hug his son but Kanda abruptly moved away to avoid it.

Lavi's eyes widened in disbelief along with some of the orphans who were still awake. "Wait, what happened!"

"Oh, let me tell you the whole story." Cross proclaimed, his smile widening. "But it would be nice to listen to the kid since he was the one to encounter a criminal."

And the entire room was filled with an uproar, all directed to Kanda who wasn't in the mood to talk about what recently happened with him and Rouvelier. Luckily for Kanda, Dr. Komui Lee stepped into the room and everyone became silent as all eyes were on him now.

"Allen should be waking up in a few minutes, but if anyone wants to see him now that's fine since you've all been waiting for a long time now." Komui exclaimed.

Lavi nudged Kanda in the ribs, indicating that he should be the first to see Allen. Kanda glared at the rabbit but didn't argue with him. He collected his crutches and staggered his way over to Allen's hospital room.

x~x~x~x~x

"Looks like it's time for you to wake up." Alma proclaimed, tossing a small pebble in the water in which it make a small plopping noise.

"Really?" Allen did the same thing but had a shorter range. He watched the pebble land in the sand and sink slowly underneath before the water grabbed it, carrying it away.

"Yup." Alma nodded; he took Allen's hand and brought him over to the water till the overlapping waves touched below their knees. "It's almost dawn."

Allen looked over to see the sun peeking out from the water and gradually raising to the sky, turning it to a light blue. He turned back to Alma who was starting to fade, the sun's light was pouring past his body.

"Alma. . .?"

Alma just smiled, his hand that was grasping Allen was losing its touch and soon enough his entire body vanished just as another wave brushed by.

"Alma!"

x~x~x~x~x

Allen woke up with a start, his head shot up and his shoulders tensed up. He felt his heart racing fast as he gained a burst of oxygen from the breathing tube. He felt a pair of hands gently laying him back on the bed; Allen turned and saw Kanda with his usual scowl.

"What the hell was with that wake up, Sprout?"

Allen wanted to argue that his name was Allen but he couldn't speak due to all the tubes in him. So the only thing that Allen could do was let tears fall freely from his eyes. He raised one of his hands up and reached it towards Kanda. Kanda took hold of the hand and for the first time, Allen saw a small smile gracing the teen's lips.

"You're going to be fine, Allen."

Allen's eyes widened in shock, shocked that Kanda actually _smiled_ and the fact that he finally called him by his _real name._ Something was definitely wrong with Kanda, Allen knew it. The boy smiled widely, believing Kanda's words since he was sure the teen wasn't going to leave him again. After all, he saved his life.

"Allen!"

Allen and Kanda looked over and saw Tiedoll running into the room with a gigantic teddy bear and a bouquet of all kinds of flowers. "I'm so glad you're alright! Oh, what would we do without you?"

Allen just shrugged since he couldn't talk and Kanda slapped his forehead since his dad was being really annoying . . . again.

"Kanda," Tiedoll turned to his son, blowing his nose vociferously into a paintbrush printed handkerchief. "You are going to take care of Allen and make sure he recovers back successfully. We don't want something like this to happen again, understand?"

"Yeah, I got it." Kanda understood for the billionth time that he wasn't going to make another stupid mistake again and that he was going to take care of his adopted brother.

"That's my boy." Tiedoll patted his head and handed the giant teddy bear and bouquet of flowers. "I need to get more tissues, be right back."

Kanda stared idly at the bear and bouquet of flowers. He turned back to Allen who was simply smiling, enjoying the fact that he was able to see the two again, but mainly the fact that Kanda was going to take care of him.

"Yo, Allen!" Lavi was now the one to enter the room, strolling in casually with his usual smile. "How are you?"

"He can't talk, rabbit." Kanda stated.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Lavi just noticed all the tubes on Allen and pouted. "Well, you're gonna be better in no time!"

"Actually it's going to be a few months till Allen fully recovers." Komui exclaimed, stepping into the room as he pushed his glasses upward. "He's going to stay here for a while till he's ready to get back home; we just have to get his body back in shape."

"Understood, Doc!" Lavi gave Komui a thumbs up.

Kanda rolled his eyes and turned back to Allen who was starting to fall back to sleep. His head lolled side to side a bit before he finally drifted off with a small smile. Kanda was still holding his hand and it was going to be a while till he let go.

Lavi decided to leave the two alone which Kanda was pretty grateful for. Komui left as well but was probably going to be back in a few minutes to tell the teen to leave. Kanda sighed, this was a long night and it was finally over. He looked over to Allen and then noticed something glowing next to him.

Alma was sitting on the bedside, kicking his legs back and forth and smiling wildly at his older brother. The halo above his head was shining brilliantly and his wings wavered up and down playfully.

"Hey, Kanda!" Alma waved his hand high in the air.

"Alma?" Kanda eyes widened, he shook his head in disbelief but there in front of him was his brother.

"Are you going to make a mayonnaise promise for Allen?" Alma suggested curiously. "You are going to be taking care of him to cheer him up, right?"

"Yeah, but—"Alma cut him off as he showed him his pinky finger. "Both your father and Lavi made you promise that you will take care of Allen, so that technically counts as the mayonnaise promise."

"I guess. . ."

"So, you need to make it a pinky swear." Alma concluded. "Promise Allen that you will take care of him and be with him always."

Kanda stared at Alma who for once was giving him a serious look, but then he'll just break into his goofy smiles. Kanda nodded and intertwined his pinky finger with Allen's.

"I promise."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I hate my computer. . .I want a new one -_- Anyways, hopefully you guys enjoyed this chap and I'm truly sorry again for the delay. There's probaly gonna be two more chaps left of this just so you all know.


	16. Epilouge

A few months have passed and it was spring. Allen fully recovered from the surgery and was back at home with his new family. Allen was playing on the piano early in the morning, just as the first rays of sunlight had slipped through the glass windows. Allen's fingers waltzed gingery across the pearl and ebony keys and his eyes were closed in deep concentration. Then his head perked up when he heard footsteps descending down the stairs.

Kanda had reached the landing of the stairs. He was wearing a plain, powder blue pajama that was partly buttoned, showing a bit of neckline and chest. He stretched his arms groggily and frowned disapprovingly at his adopted brother.

"Do you really have to play that so early in the morning?" The teen asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eye.

"Sorry, I just had the urge to play." Allen replied shyly, fidgeting with his fingers and flashing an innocent smile.

Kanda ran his fingers through his black hair and heaved out a sigh. He wasn't in the mood to argue with the kid.

"Just play softer next time, alright?" Kanda exclaimed tiredly and ventured towards the kitchen to make some coffee.

"Okay!" Allen called back and swirled his body around to face the piano. He slid his hands up to the higher notes and gently played on those keys, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Soon Kanda made his coffee and approached back into the living room to watch Allen play. He leaned against the wall and took slow sips of the steamy hot liquid. The quiet tune of the piano was peaceful to hear, different from the broken tune he heard months ago. This time the tune was waking the start of spring, like a heavenly hymn ringing in the air. It was serene as more of the sun's light spilled in, making the room glow a soft golden color.

Kanda placed the half empty cup on a glass coffee table and approached the bench. He situated himself next to Allen and watched carefully at the boy's patterns. Kanda laid his hands on top of the keys of the deeper notes and begun to play. His fingers were confused at first as they went in all directions, but Allen led him along the right pattern till both of their hands flowed like currents of the ocean.

Allen trailed his hands downward till his fingers met with Kanda's. Kanda's hands were bigger and his fingers were longer so he was able to reach the keys easily, but Allen could reach them quicker. Allen overlapped his hands on top of Kanda's and pressed down on the keys he was about to press. He felt like messing with Kanda so the teen decided to steal some notes on Allen's end. Kanda reached over and tapped down the softer keys, emitting the same effect of tiny bells ringing.

The two were somewhat tangled as they both leaned over on opposite ends, playing mismatched tunes that should've sounded broken. But somehow, it sounded just right. The music started peaceful then descended into confliction, till finally, as the two returned to their rightful positions, they transitioned to a much slower pace as they ended at the same time with two finishing notes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Happy Easter! I wanted this chap to be similar but yet diffrent to the first chap, did you catch the symbolisms? I tend to put symbolism alot in my fics/stories, it's rather fun~ I knew the last chap I wrote was pretty bad so I wanted to make it up with a better one, I know it's short but I wanted to end the fic with a decent conclusion. So hopefully you all enjoyed this fic and I apoligize again for my constant mishaps on it. Thanks for reading~


End file.
